Aude Urges Aoun to 'Go Down to the Streets' and 'Listen to People'

Greek Orthodox Metropolitan of Beirut Elias Aude on Sunday called on President Michel Aoun to “go down to the streets” in order to be able to feel the pain of the people.

“Mr. President, I adjure you by your grandchildren… to go down to the streets, listen to your people and examine the humiliation that they are living,” Aude said in his Sunday Mass sermon.

“Do you accept the death of a human from hunger or sickness during your tenure? Do you accept the suffering of a child during your tenure? Do you accept insults against citizens during your tenure? Do you accept the diminishing of Lebanon during your tenure?” Aude asked, addressing Aoun.

The metropolitan also criticized caretaker PM Hassan Diab and his government for “not performing the least of the government’s duties,” while calling on PM-designate Saad Hariri to “rise above grudges and rivalries and speed up the formation of the government in order to have mercy on the country and its citizens.”

He also called on Speaker Nabih Berri and the country’s lawmakers to “understand the magnitude of the disaster.”

And in apparent criticism of Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah’s latest call for importing fuel from Iran and his warning that the Iran-backed group might bring fuel ships to Beirut’s port, Aude asked: “Where is the state regarding the unilateral decision of a party head that is implicating the entire state? What will the state do should every party leader decide to take unilateral decisions and insult the state’s prestige?”

“Isn’t it about time that the state took a decision, regained its sovereignty and imposed its respect on everyone?” Aude asked.