Sidon Personalities Call for Reopening Roads in City as Asir Refuses to Comply
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
Personalities from the southern city of Sidon rejected on Friday Imam of Bilal bin Rabah mosque Salafist cleric Ahmed al-Asir’s open-ended sit-in that is demanding the elimination of the “hegemony of illegitimate arms.”
Mustaqbal bloc leader MP Fouad Saniora said after the meeting: “We oppose the blocking of roads because it allows others to create instability.”
He called for the reopening of the roads in the city “because the current practices are hindering the freedom of the people and their daily lives.”
“We have never condoned the blocking of any road because it is an uncivilized practice that undermines the state, hinders the people’s daily life, and provides the excuse for others to create conflicts in Lebanon,” he stressed.
Saniora warned: “Blocking roads violates the people’s safety and it goes beyond the acceptable forms of freedom of expression.”
“We hope that people throughout Lebanon would avoid such practices because they will not lead to any solution,” he said in reference to the frequent blocking of roads, most notably the airport road in Beirut, in protest against various developments in the country.
The Sidon meeting was attended by a number of officials from the city, including governor of the South Nicolas Abou Daher and Mufti of Sidon and the South Sheikh Salim Sousan.
“We are and will always be committed to democratic practices. We will not be lured to conduct the same activity of those bearing arms and undermining the state,” Saniora continued.
“Every citizen has the right to stage a sit-in as a form of freedom of expression. We respect the opinions of all sides, but this form of expression should not lead to the obstruction of the daily lives of others,” stated the former premier.
“The roads belong to the people and the state is obligated to ensure their freedom of mobility,” he continued.
Referring to Asir, he added: “We respect the goals he announced, but we repeat that the freedom of people stops when it violates that of others.”
“We have exercised our freedom of expression without blocking roads,” he noted.
Saniora stressed: “We have long stood by the state in confronting developments that would serve to create tensions in the country.”
Asir soon responded to the Sidon personalities meeting, declaring: “We will not reopen the road even if the United Nations Security Council ordered us to do so.”
“Saniora’s remarks only represent him and not the free people of Sidon,” he added.
“We only fear God,” he continued.
He warned: “Any attack against us would likely be from Hizbullah and we hold Saniora responsible for it because he would have given them the green light for such action.”
Asir assured that there is no Sunni-Shiite strife in Lebanon, adding: “There are arms in Lebanon that are overpowering the state. How can strife erupt among unarmed individuals?”
“The Lebanese republic is being held hostage by the arms. We reject the hegemony of the weapons,” he stated.
“We will not end the sit-in until we are persuaded that Hizbullah and AMAL have accepted serious efforts to tackle the case of non-state arms,” he revealed.
“We will not end the sit-in until our peaceful demands are met,” said Asir.
Asir had told Voice of Lebanon radio on Thursday: “Our sit-in in Sidon is peaceful and civilized. It includes women, children and elderly.”
“We can no longer tolerate the spread of arms in the presence of the state,” he stressed, saying that his protest does not threaten the month-long security plan launched by Interior Minister Marwan Charbel.
In remarks to MTV he dubbed his protest an Intifada or Uprising.
Hundreds of the mosque preacher’s supporters blocked the northern and southern entrances to the southern city of Sidon on Wednesday night by lying down on the road.
Around 50 protestors resumed their protest on Thursday morning by erecting tents near Abou Bahaeddine Hariri mosque at Sidon’s northern entrance.
29 June 2012, 13:01
42
Disgrace!!!!!!!!!!!! Yet you are calling for the state to be respected and the rule of law,why dont you lead by example Sir.
29 June 2012, 13:01
38
The Salafi/wahabi movement see their chance now to gain popularity amongst traditionally mainly Hanafi Sunnis of Lebanon.
I hope the Lebanese wont fall into this trap as replacing something bad ( hezb hegemony) with another bad ( Salafi/ wahabi hegemony)is not the way to go.
The Salafi movement do not speak for the population of Sidon.
If Hezb was a truely Lebanese movement, they should see that their arms are now creating dangerous things for Lebanon. Go to the tables and agree on arms free Lebanon. Integrate your arms into the Lebanese armies.
29 June 2012, 13:03
74
Well said , throw him in jail and rape him there, na3em machekel , khalass enough . ( make sure he shave before ) . this guy is putting oil on fire that might lead to bigger problems
29 June 2012, 13:08
22
This is a peaceful protest! where are the so called resistance arms and the spread of arms among other camps are completely ILLEGAL!
While i don't agree with this extremist religious views, I commend him for standing up for this rights PEACEFULLY!!
29 June 2012, 13:12
47
eeeeuh, The Palestinians are far less dangerous than the Persians. Hezbollah sends rockets too Israel and caused us so much... our country was flattened because of their reckless behaviour not long ago. To me, Hezbollah is top priority, Palestinian camps come second.
29 June 2012, 14:32
55
FlamingTurd you are right, so we should thank God the current Hassan government was not in charge during the Nahr el bared episode, Hassan's red lines would have protected the throat slitting terrorists living there and they'd be alive and still busy throat slitting even today up and down the north/south highway and in the mountain during the summer month.
29 June 2012, 14:46
55
simply put: FT, you are silly and have silly comments.
ther is nothing unconstructive to want all weapons under the control of the armed forces, and not have militias roaming the country doing what they wish and go unpunished.
stealing, drugs, kidnapping, hegemony on other people's lands, provocations( what about that musallah they want to have in kesrewan?). add to that killing, intimidtion,...
no, the answer is not to accpet this matter sitting down.
29 June 2012, 15:51
25
@FT: Hezb could be considered dangerous to the Lebanese, because its actions- which are not consented by all Lebanese- against Israel end up affecting ALL Lebanese people. The 2006 war was unnecessary, provocatory, and erased all the gains the Lebanese economy made after the civil war. Not to mention the over 1000 civilian deaths. While these are the results of Israeli attacks on the country, it is due to Hezb's miscalculation of Israeli retaliation, and it just goes to show that violent resistance does not take us anywhere now that Israel is outside of Lebanon
29 June 2012, 17:15
23
Benzona... The Palestinians are not Lebanese. They caused the civil war in Lebanon. Hezbollah is Lebanese, whether u like them or hate them. Simply put, if you put foreigners against fellow Lebanese, you are a traitor! Hezballah will only be dealt with internally, through dialogue and a build up of respect and trust.
29 June 2012, 19:27
00
ado.australia, "The Palestinians are not Lebanese... Hezbollah is Lebanese" but it's acting exactly like the Palestinians did, same threats, same accusations, same rhetoric.. "the state cannot defend us we need our own distinct and independent arms to defend ourselves", "we will strike at the enemy whenever and wherever we wish, we decide on the where, the when and the how, the rest of you have no say", "our protected areas are our own stay out the Lebanese state's prying eyes or else, Samer Hanna discovered at his expense", "we are major players on the world stage so interests of our foreign benefactors are paramount and they come before Lebanese puny interest", "the resistance is seperate from ythe army and the people and we will use the 'resistance above all' clause anytime we disagree and you are with Israel if you question us".. so many more not enough space
29 June 2012, 13:25
44
People like is guy are just poison to society. He uses a valid cause to spread, chaos, animosity and hatred...he should be arrested but the people/countries if any, pushing him should be exposed!
29 June 2012, 13:26
34
benzona palestinian arms created the war in lebanon in75
and israel flattened lebanon several times cause of the palestinians
and we have 12 camps and 500000 refugees as for saudi arabia not even 1 single camp
so ship them to the gulf countries ie the palestinians
29 June 2012, 16:45
02
Actually, the lebanese civil war started the day two sects lived in lebanon at the same time. Each sect has fought the other in lebanon, and it started over 1000 years ago and never ended, same disputes and hate have lived on and continued to grow in this sect-based area of lebanon. The only solution is for EVERYONE to leave secterianism and put all weapons in the hands of the state and to provide better training for the lebanese army, especially when it comes to dealing with people as unfortunetly it often is rude to citizens. Everyone needs to change their secterian mentality and leave the blame game. This is the salvation of lebanon, not in everyone beeing armed and living in the past and blaming eachother left and right. Lebanon can never change to the better untill we recognize our own misstakes instead of looking in the faults of others.
29 June 2012, 16:45
03
As Christ said: Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye. (Matthew 7:1-5)
29 June 2012, 14:42
23
The only tensions that it will create are tensions in Siniora (and other rich people's) wallets as people will not drive to work and not use up fuel and not pay taxes anymore.
29 June 2012, 14:49
46
hizbushaitan insistance on keeping their weapons is the root cause of the emergence of such evil people.
let us deal with the root cause, then the rest will return to normal.
hizbushaitan and fpm are polarrizing everybody else through their actions, thus turning the most moderate people in the country toward extrmism. if this is what they want, then they are served.
29 June 2012, 16:11
25
stop insulting people, FT AKA wiseass. A ma connaissance t'es pas un voyou, n'est-ce pas? A moins que je ne sois dans l'erreur. Because when you insult people, you don't do Aoun a favour by acting as one of his unofficial 'ambassadors'.
29 June 2012, 16:48
22
FT:
where in my comment you see me endorsing his actions?
so clearly you are confirming your stupidity by your comment.
people like you and assir are much of the same: extremists.
29 June 2012, 17:50
12
so in plain words FT is confirming simply and plainly that he is: un voyou :)
OK we will treat you as such.... if this is what you want? or it is a common denominaator to all fpm people? are you all "des voyous" ?
29 June 2012, 15:06
23
For whom who dont know,omar bakri and Aseer are 3omala for junblat=hizbollah=Israel
29 June 2012, 15:39
43
First of all, Hezballah's arms are to Liberate the South, eh?
Second, Future movement, LF, Kataeb,..etc.. ALL have arms and weapons,eh ?
Don't forget what happened in Taree2 el Jdeede last time? Who had the weapons and fighting like crack ?
29 June 2012, 15:50
22
As for the palestinians , im not with you benzona. They must be disarmed first , then Hezbollah. Because they are more dangerous to the lebanese entity and anyway you cannot disarm hezbollah then them, it is a stupid move and the chiite wont accept it after what happened in the south during the civil war.
29 June 2012, 15:50
11
As many have said previously, Asir the salafist has gone loose. This is what happens when a group wants to impose on others their views. Hezbollah has awaken the extremist branch of salafis. And this was predictable, and it was nonetheless not the time to do so, with all the events favoring these extremists in the middle east and power slipping into their hands.( egypt-tunisia-libya-morrocco-yemen- maybe even syria soon). This is also what happens when you criticize a moderate sunni like Hariri, which although i dont really support, and you bring him down, the sunni sect feels threaten and might turn to these crazies like Asir. Mon general i hope you have a back up plan you never stop criticizing and uundermining Sunni power posts.
29 June 2012, 16:44
31
Yes that's right my friend. Hezbollah woke up the "extremist branch of salafists."
How many branches of salafists do you know that are not extremists? And how many countries in the world have salafists even without the existence of Hezbollah there? And how many a sleeping salafist without actually knowing he was a salafist was faced with Hezbollah and it brought out the inner salafist withim him?
Sorry if I am not making sense. I thought we were playing a make-no-sense game by hitting the "post a comment" button!
29 June 2012, 16:51
20
Hahaha.
I love that little afterthought you just had .... "yes, ummm, he should not be blocking roads.... but let's leave that aside for now...."
Ha!
29 June 2012, 18:12
00
his job create chaos in the anti hezballah camp and alarm the rest of the population at large, and he's executing it to perfection.
29 June 2012, 18:26
00
all religious thugs should be thrown in jail but one but can't help wonder, how is what this freak doing is any different then what hizbiran and the syrian regime lapdog "aoun the clown" did in downtwon beirut few years ago?
29 June 2012, 18:38
00
That's right Bashar's boy toy, I remember when you did that same thing to the filthy Christian terrorists who dared oppose your everlasting love's rule in Lebanon early this century.
29 June 2012, 18:45
14
Asir soon responded to the Sidon personalities meeting, declaring: “We will not reopen the road even if the United Nations Security Council ordered us to do so.”
Sounds familiar? Dose one not hear echo of Nasrallah there somewhere? Extremism begets extremism, have we not learned that lesson yet?
One is justified in criticizing this guy and one should also not forget about what HA and Amal thugs are doing to try and release the criminal Ala'eldine.
30 June 2012, 00:34
31
Assir is trying to copy Nasrallah
Leik wein el assir w leik wein Nasrallah, shu da5alon be ba3don?
Nasrallah is not an extremist for your knowledge, if you think so; see a doctor please.
30 June 2012, 02:57
13
Well, Assir is in the streets, Nasrallah is underground. Big LOL. And no, Hassan isn't an extremist, He's a pacifist.... yeah right. It's Friday night, did you smoke a little too much? BigSami, please tell him how not to get affected excessively when he over doses. gracias!
29 June 2012, 20:13
00
A warning to Mr Asir and his supporters the practice of blocking roads using burning tires is registered to Hajj FlameThrower.
29 June 2012, 20:31
00
Salafists or Hizballa they both have one goal. ........... UMMA to spread islam by any means if you cant convert the people than convert the land (breed like rabbits) and thats exactly what happened in Lebanon and its happening all over the world. Shiites follow Hussein way and all sects of sunni follow 3ala sunnat al rassoul. Wake up people we have tried to live amongst each other for more than 1000 years. IT WONT WORK we are like chalk and cheese.
29 June 2012, 20:47
10
Oh look i could see a woman amongst all these men.........that'll be 40 lashes then. Phahhahahaha
29 June 2012, 21:40
13
Such a spectacle, these guys in their long white sheets, head bandages and unshaven beards. This is what Lebanon 2012 looks like?? It is not the condition of Lebanon, but the symptopm of the condition of Lebanon that the government is so absent, empty and hollow that these religious figures have to engage in this sort of activity.
How can the Lebanese tolerate this and in this "tourist season" when money for the year is supposed to be earned. Thibran Bassil is keeping the power running (not!) and Hezbollah is doing security. Such a terrible joke this is.
29 June 2012, 23:54
11
Beiruti, am looking forward how will other elected ministers in the future will do it.
Dnt Blame Jibran* Bassil for this, the ones before him weren't any better.
Haydak el sanyoura ele sarra2 el 11 billion 3a wa2to, alla lay redo.
30 June 2012, 00:44
01
Alebanese@ Bassil's predecessors were parts of "Unity Cabinets" that were boycotted and subject to Veto by this M8 grouping of Aounists and Hezbolli. The difference is that this is a cabinet of "one color" no boycotts, no blocking thirds, no obstruction from the Opposition, and yet, look at how the country is being run. Clean into the ground.
30 June 2012, 02:59
11
beiruti, you meant clean into the wall... and I think it's gona hurt them a lot.
29 June 2012, 21:45
00
Blocking roads makes you a terrorist but blowing up prime ministers and taking over cities with guns doesn't? M8 supporters have the brains of mindless sheep.
30 June 2012, 03:00
00
@ Benzona , i was sarcastically refering to general Aoun's loosing stances, as for @ applepie, what i meant was he woke up the salafi branch meaning he woke up the salafists, i might have said it in a wrong way and it was not understandable. Anyway i hope you agree this is the consequence of groups like Hezbollah that are chiites armed to the teeth undermining sunni powers that led to this. They throw out Hariri, they criticize Rifi and Hassan, Aoun even attacks Mikati. Every sunni strong man, he is the voice of Hezbollah. He has served them well.
30 June 2012, 15:49
00
They have one of two choices: reopen the roads billati hiya a7san or risk of having their bungholes opened wide with a lot of pain.
01 July 2012, 06:09
00
Bubba,what balance of power , is it between Iran and Lebanon on lebanese territory, shame on you to follow the invader of your country.
