FPM Supporters Hand Out Flyers in Jbeil, Batroun as Convoys Roam Metn

Supporters of the Free Patriotic Movement staged a new motorized protest Thursday in the Northern Metn region, as FPM members distributed leaflets in Jbeil and Batroun to explain demands and mobilize the public opinion.

FPM supporters gathered outside the movement's Northern Metn headquarters in Nahr el-Mot before taking off in convoys that roamed the Amaret Chalhoub, Zalka, Jal el-Dib, Antelias and Dbaye areas, state-run National News Agency reported.

The protesters distributed flyers in the areas that they passed through, NNA said.

“I'm Christian, I won't accept to be marginalized, I won't accept a puppet president who has no say in the equation, I won't accept an electoral law that quashes my representation, and I won't accept submissive leaders... Together we can regain our rights,” the flyer reads.

Similar leaflets were handed out at the entrance of the city of Jbeil and several areas in the northern city of Batroun.

On Wednesday evening, the FPM organized a motorized protest that headed from the Baouchrieh area to Ashrafieh, a week after organizing a similar demo.

The protests come in the wake of a stormy cabinet session and violent street protests that left several FPM demonstrators and army troops wounded last week.

The cabinet session witnessed a heated debate on the government's mechanism of taking decisions in light of the presidential vacuum. The parties agreed to continue the thorny debate in a session that will be held after Eid al-Fitr, with Prime Minister Tammam Salam promising that it would be the first item on the agenda.

“Today was a historic day for us and we're still at the beginning of our movements. We will regain everything that they usurped from us,” said FPM chief MP Michel Aoun after the session.

Days before the explosive cabinet meeting, Aoun had called on his supporters to prepare for rallies to regain what he described as the “Christians' rights.”

His supporters began preparing to stage anti-government rallies after the cabinet failed to discuss the appointment of high-ranking security and military officials.

The FPM chief has been lobbying for the appointment of Commando Regiment commander Chamel Roukoz, his son-in-law, as army chief.

Y.R.