Jumblat Denounces Incident Near the Iranian Embassy, Says it is 'Barbaric'

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat denounced Sunday's incident near the Iranian embassy describing it as a “barbaric” act, and called on related authorities to continue investigations to uncover the perpetrators, he said on Monday.

“What happened is strongly deprecated. We denounce the barbaric assault where sticks and batons were used, just like in old centuries, which raises major questions on the objectives and goals of the assault,” Jumblat stated in his weekly editorial in al-Anbaa website.

On Sunday, Hizbullah protagonists wearing black shirts and yellow ribbons around their arms beat up the Lebanese Option Party protesters near the Iranian embassy in the Bir Hassan area south of Beirut, where they held a sit-in to protest Hizbullah's involvement in the war raging in Syria.

Hashem Salman, who was the head of the party's student committee, was killed and at least 11 others wounded in the clash.

The Druze leader Jumblat, strongly stressed that freedoms and opposition stances should not be suppressed, urging further investigation in the incident.

“One man was killed by presumably unknown assailants, who can either be from the Iranian Revolutionary Guards or by some affiliated parties. Perpetrators must be punished,” he stressed.

Moreover, Jumblat considered “threats to public freedom are a serious blow to the democratic system in Lebanon.”

“It is the responsibility of the judicial and military apparatus to uncover the perpetrators. The Lebanese public opinion will be waiting to know the whole truth in the near future,” concluded Jumblat.