FPM Denies Link to Antelias Anti-Saudi Banners as Rifi Orders Arrests
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
Security forces removed Sunday banners containing insults to Saudi Arabia that were pinned on a footbridge on the coastal highway in Antelias, state-run National News Agency reported.
The Free Patriotic Movement meanwhile issued a statement denying any link to the banners, after media reports said an FPM official was involved in the move.
“The FPM stresses that it has nothing to do with the insulting banners and it condemns this insult and emphasizes its respect for the brotherly kingdom and its keenness on Lebanon's ties with it and with all brotherly and friendly countries,” it said.
Later on Sunday, Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi asked State Prosecutor Samir Hammoud to prosecute and arrest those who installed the banners and to hand them the “harshest penalties.”
Rifi also called on the judiciary to maintain “continuous readiness to follow up on any insult against the kingdom or against any brotherly or friendly country,” vowing that Sunday's incident will be followed up “until the end.”
The incident comes two days after a group of young men stormed the Beirut offices of the Saudi newspaper Asharq al-Awsat in protest at a cartoon deemed insulting to Lebanon.
The cartoon published Friday by Asharq al-Awsat shows Lebanon's flag and the words “The Lebanese State: An April Fools' Lie.”
The developments coincide with tensions between the kingdom and Lebanon's Hizbullah and follow a series of Saudi measures against Lebanon and the Iran-backed party.
Y.R.
03 April 2016, 16:42
711
lol, of course the reformists in the FPM would deny. They instructed their blind followers to flood the social media with insults against KSA and pictures depicting KSA in the worst of terms.
03 April 2016, 17:03
610
بالأسماء والصور: أكثر من 10 قتلى جدد لـ “حزب الله” في سوريا
http://www.lebanese-forces.com/2016/04/02/hezbollah-361/
03 April 2016, 17:11
69
When the fpm denies it means it confirms. Horrible people with a chip on their shoulder.
03 April 2016, 17:21
69
Of course it is the Caporal, imbassil and co...they just hate Saudi Arabia and tell it openly to all their partisans...
03 April 2016, 18:26
56
صدر عن لجنة الاعلام المركزية في التيار الوطني الحر البيان التالي:
انتشرت على وسائل التواصل الاجتماعي صور وشعارات مسيئة الى المملكة العربية السعودية، أوحى من نشرها ان التيار الوطني الحر وراءها.
يهم التيار ان يؤكد ان لا علاقة له بما صدر، لا بل يدين هذه الاساءة ويشدد على احترامه للمملكة الشقيقة وحرصه على علاقات لبنان معها ومع جميع الدول الشقيقة والصديقة. وقد عمد التيار الوطني الحر الى ازالة هذه الصور ويدين هذه التصرفات كونها تسيء الى دولة شقيقة والى علاقات لبنان معها.
03 April 2016, 18:33
55
So does this mean that the FPM is now Salafi jihadist terrorist for removing the banner. That would not be a stretch actually, not long ago you Hezb boy used to accuse it and it's leadership of being pro-Jew Zionist. And as it happened then the FPM used to call you Hezb boys jihadist terrorists trying to turn Lebanon into an Islamic Republic under Wilayat al fakih.
03 April 2016, 22:51
34
Not an old story at least not according to Naim Qassem on Al Mayadeen's "إسلاميون" show just over two months ago.
04 April 2016, 04:05
14
it makes you wonder why the hypocrites of the fpm do not condemn the speeches of nassrallah when he attacks brotherly countries.
03 April 2016, 20:21
59
they are considered brotherly according to iranians such as yourself.
04 April 2016, 02:40
14
It pleases me so much when I see and hear a real s3oodi defend the FPM.
