Change and Reform Says to Rally Sep. 28, Oct. 13: We Won't Stop before Achieving Goals

The Change and Reform parliamentary bloc announced Wednesday that it has started mobilizing for street protests on September 28 and October 13 as part of its escalatory steps that are aimed at pressing the other parties in the country to “abide by the National Pact.”

“We have given ourselves several days and the mobilization phase has started. We are preparing for gradual escalation over the National Pact,” said the bloc in a statement issued after its weekly meeting.

The 1943 National Pact is an unwritten agreement that set the foundations of modern Lebanon as a multi-confessional state based on Christian-Muslim partnership.

“This Pact must be present in all the manifestations of national partnership and any hostility against this approach would be targeted against Lebanon, because (FPM founder) General (Michel) Aoun's action is aimed at rescuing Lebanon,” the bloc added.

“When we start our action, it will not stop and this is a warning. It will not stop before reaching a presidency and an electoral law that respect the standards of the National Pact,” Change and Reform said.

The statement also noted that Aoun “will spare no effort to establish 'the rule of the strong leaders', which is the real guarantee for achieving partnership, so that all components would be reassured regarding their present, future and fate... pending the abolition of the sectarian system.”

“Our demands regarding dialogue, the presidency, the electoral law and the government are national, unifying and have to do with respecting the National Pact. Those who want to talk to us must offer us solutions that respect the National Pact,” the bloc added.

FPM chief Jebran Bassil has threatened that the FPM would “topple the government” through street protests if the other parties do not heed the movement's demand regarding “partnership” and the National Pact.

The FPM, which has the biggest Christian bloc in parliament, has suspended its participation in cabinet sessions and national dialogue meetings over accusations that other parties in the country are not respecting the National Pact.

Addressing Prime Minister Tammam Salam, Bassil has recently said that “the son of late PM Saeb Salam must pay great attention when he says that the government is respecting the National Pact when it convenes in the presence of ministers representing only six percent of a main component of the country (Christians).”

Bassil has also warned that the country might be soon plunged into a “political system crisis” if the other parties do not heed the FPM's demands regarding Muslim-Christian “partnership.”

Marada Movement chief Suleiman Franjieh hit back at Bassil earlier this month, saying Marada and the other Christian parties in the cabinet “represent a lot more than six percent.”