FPM Denies Link to Antelias Anti-Saudi Banners as Rifi Orders Arrests

Security forces removed Sunday banners containing insults to Saudi Arabia that were pinned on a footbridge on the coastal highway in Antelias, state-run National News Agency reported.

The Free Patriotic Movement meanwhile issued a statement denying any link to the banners, after media reports said an FPM official was involved in the move.

“The FPM stresses that it has nothing to do with the insulting banners and it condemns this insult and emphasizes its respect for the brotherly kingdom and its keenness on Lebanon's ties with it and with all brotherly and friendly countries,” it said.

Later on Sunday, Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi asked State Prosecutor Samir Hammoud to prosecute and arrest those who installed the banners and to hand them the “harshest penalties.”

Rifi also called on the judiciary to maintain “continuous readiness to follow up on any insult against the kingdom or against any brotherly or friendly country,” vowing that Sunday's incident will be followed up “until the end.”

The incident comes two days after a group of young men stormed the Beirut offices of the Saudi newspaper Asharq al-Awsat in protest at a cartoon deemed insulting to Lebanon.

The cartoon published Friday by Asharq al-Awsat shows Lebanon's flag and the words “The Lebanese State: An April Fools' Lie.”

The developments coincide with tensions between the kingdom and Lebanon's Hizbullah and follow a series of Saudi measures against Lebanon and the Iran-backed party.

Y.R.