March 14 Student Bodies Rally at Foreign Ministry to Demand Syrian Ambassador’s Expulsion
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
Various March 14 student and youth organizations held a rally on Wednesday in front of the Foreign Ministry headquarters in the Ashrafiyeh district in Beirut to demand the expulsion of Syrian Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Abdul Karim Ali.
The organizers said the demo was staged to “protest the security chaos and demand the release of the abductees and detainees in Syrian prisons and the expulsion of Syrian Ambassador Ali Abdul Karim Ali.”
The demonstrators also called for the termination of the cooperation agreement between Lebanon and Syria.
The demonstrators started gathering around 7:00 p.m. near Saint Joseph University in Huvelin street before heading to the Foreign Ministry in the Sofil neighborhood in Ashrafiyeh.
Alongside the flags of their parties and movements, the demonstrators carried the Syrian rebel flag and banners condemning the Syrian ambassador.
Several political figures also took part in the protest, such as MPs Ahmed Fatfat, Ammar Houri and Nadim Gemayel; March 14 General-Secretariat Coordinator Fares Soaid; ex-MP Elias Atallah; March 14 general-secretariat members Naufal Daou, Elie Mahfoud and Elias al-Zoghbi; journalist May Chidiac; and activists Fadi Ghosn, Michel Hajji-Georgiou, Toufic al-Hendi and Marwan Saqr.
The heads of the student bodies announced that they will “stage further sit-ins until the Syrian ambassador is expelled.”
The Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc voiced its support on Tuesday for the rally, reiterating the movements’ demands for the expulsion of the ambassador and the suspension of the Lebanese-Syrian Higher Council.
Lebanese Forces sources told al-Akhbar newspaper in remarks published on Wednesday that the March 14 rally was prompted by the charges against Syrian security chief Ali al-Mamlouk of forming a criminal group, in cooperation with former minister Michel Samaha, to carry out attacks in Lebanon.
“The Lebanese state has not lifted a finger to question the Syrian ambassador over the Syrian regime’s evil intentions towards Lebanon and the Lebanese people,” they added.
“Answers and clarifications are needed otherwise the ambassador must be expelled,” they continued.
“This rally is the beginning of escalatory measures that should yield national demands,” they declared.
The youth organizations had stressed during their coordination meetings in preparation for the rally the "democratic and peaceful" nature of their movement, which they said will act as a “turning point” and lead to the participation of other March 14 groups in possible future rallies, An Nahar daily reported.
The youth groups that took part in the rally were those of the Mustaqbal Movement, the Lebanese Forces, the Phalange Party, the National Liberal Party, the National Bloc and al-Jamaa al-Islamiya.
Various March 14 sources told al-Akhbar that the movement might either present President Michel Suleiman with a memorandum over Syria’s repeated violations against Lebanon that includes the students’ demands or stage an open-ended rally in front of the Foreign Ministry or the Grand Serail.
29 August 2012, 08:57
35
I think the smarter thing to do is to only demand one thing : THE RETURN OF LEBANESE FROM SYRIAN JAILS. The other statements, while 100% valid will dilute our main demand.
29 August 2012, 09:44
96
karim do u think before you speak because you always post nonsense. just because someone doesnt have the same political affiliation as yourself that doesnt make them automatically wahabi or al qaeda you retard. i bet you dont even know what wahabi is . do you reasearch you clown. because mohammed abdul wahab was against al saud and he they fought each other. he was against al saud collaboration with the british and now we today we have them fighting al qaeda because they are against collaboration with the americans
29 August 2012, 15:01
63
FT...They are..did you read the article? The demonstrators will also demand the elimination of the cooperation agreement between Lebanon and Syria and release Lebanese prisoners held in Syrian jails.Did you just read the title of the article and feel the need to comment? Does M8 demonstrate for the goodness of Lebanon? I think not!
29 August 2012, 10:10
106
nobody is perfect but atleast these youth are speaking out injustice and tyranny. they sympathise the syrian people because they know how wicked and evil the regime and its dogs like you are. what if was your children or wife or neighbour. there isnt really much difference between syrain people and lebanese. were all people of the levant. so its common sense that were going to support one another and feel with each other
29 August 2012, 10:57
103
well i think syria came in to save certain people in lebanon and kill other people there enemies or anyone they deem a threath .and oh yeah wasnt it the maronites who invited them. i dont know what massacres are going on in saudi arabia. i never heard a planes attacking or missiles being launched. you must be ibn mutah majoosi
29 August 2012, 10:59
104
the whole world sees the syrian people being slaughthered and just listening to your tone of words i can tell your one despicable lowlife. obviously you don't care about the 20000 people who get killed. dont worry what goes around comes around
29 August 2012, 11:15
411
I guess benzona and slash and allouchi and the rest of the illiteratis will be spending their day achieving nothing, as usual.
29 August 2012, 15:23
44
Ali bin Ali, whatever his name is should be turned over to the FSA.
29 August 2012, 17:49
33
Flamethrower is one of the very few that makes sense in this forum. Those calling today for the expulsion of the Syrian ambassador are the same ones that have been calling for a Syrian ambassador in Lebanon for the past seventy years. Wake up people and smell the hoummous.
29 August 2012, 22:57
12
General Aoun paid my first class ticket, 2300 euros in 2009. If hariri managed to spend less, it can only mean he's got a better network and smarter people working for him.
