Raouche Rock Bathed in Colors of French, Lebanese Flags amid Protest

Beirut's famous Pigeons' Rock, better known as the Rock of Raouche, was illuminated Wednesday in the colors of the French and Lebanese flags in homage to the victims of the latest terrorist attacks.

French Ambassador to Lebanon Emmanuel Bonne took part in the illumination ceremony at Raouche's seaside corniche.

The initiative was launched by Beirut Governor Ziad Shbib.

Thanking “all Lebanese” for their solidarity with his country, Bonne expressed his appreciation of the move.

“Today is a day for solidarity and friendship between Lebanon and France,” he said.

Stressing that all countries have rejected terrorism, the envoy called on everyone to “unite in the face of this terrorist threat.”

For his part, Shbib said Lebanon must confront terrorism through “resorting to the state of law.”

Bonne, Shbib and the rest of the participants were separated by a police human chain from a protest organized by relatives, friends and supporters of jailed Lebanese militant Georges Abdallah.

The activists demanded the release of Abdallah from French jails and denounced the French state while expressing solidarity with the Paris victims.

He was jailed for life in 1987 after being convicted in the 1982 murders of U.S. military attache Charles Robert Ray and Israeli diplomat Yacov Barsimantov.

Last year, a French court annulled a parole granted to Abdallah, after postponing its final decision several times. Abdallah has been eligible for parole since 1999, but seven previous applications were all rejected.

The illumination initiative comes four days ahead of Lebanon's Independence Day, which marks the end of the French mandate over the country in 1943, after 23 years of colonial rule.

It also comes several days after Islamic State attacks killed 44 people in the Beirut southern suburb of Bourj al-Barajneh and 129 people in the French capital Paris. Hundreds of people were also injured in the Dahieh bombings and the France shootings and blasts.

Several Arab and Western cities had expressed their support for France and Lebanon in a similar fashion in recent days.

On Sunday, the Great Pyramid in Egypt was bathed in French, Lebanese and Russian colors in homage to the victims of attacks in Paris and Dahieh and the Sinai plane crash.

In Dubai, meanwhile, the world's tallest building the Burj al-Khalifa was lit up Sunday in the colors of the French national flag. Elsewhere in the Gulf, Kuwait City's landmark towers were also illuminated in the red, white and blue of France.

On Saturday, the iconic sails of the Sydney Opera House and New York's One World Trade Center were also lit in the French national colors.

Y.R.