Riots as ISF Commandos Successfully Escort Gang Out of Roumieh Prison
Riots erupted at Roumieh Prison on Tuesday and inmates set belongings on fire as the Internal Security Forces managed to successfully escort a 3-member gang out of the facility.
"The ISF is now in control of the juvenile ward in Roumieh and has referred the mutineering inmates to investigation," Future TV quoted security sources as saying.
For its part, LBCI television said "the security operation in Roumieh is over, after the three inmates were captured."
Earlier, the ISF announced that the inmates Rabih M. and Hussein M. were escorted out from the juvenile ward. Some inmates were also captured for resisting security forces.
The protests had broken out at the juvenile ward as security forces tried to detain the three inmates who are accused of blackmailing inmates and civilians.
Al-Jadeed television published photographs of prisoners setting fire in the ward.
Security forces used tear gas to disperse the protesters and some cases of suffocation were reported, said MTV.
The ISF unit that entered the juvenile ward to detain the gang had stressed that it would accomplish its mission according to a judicial order.
Negotiations were held between inmates and an ISF officer to contain the situation, according to media reports.
Roumieh is the largest and most overcrowded of Lebanon's prisons.
It has a capacity for 1,500 inmates, but over 4,000 are imprisoned there.
Interior Minister Nuhad al-Mashnouq stated in March that he will exert efforts to renovate the facility and improve the conditions there.
Protests frequently erupt at Roumieh given the poor conditions and the overcrowding.
Photo credit: Al-Jadeed
M.T./Y.R.
S.D.B.
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