Activist who assaulted Fayyad turns himself in after State Security erects checkpoints
Elie Haykal, the activist accused of assaulting the energy minister, turned himself in Tuesday to the Zouk Mosbeh police station.
State Security agents had earlier erected checkpoints across Zouk Mosbeh in a bid to arrest the man, as his lawyer sought to convince him to turn himself in, al-Jadeed TV reported.
A patrol from the Ashrafieh police department had on Monday raided Haykal's house without managing to find him. The raid took place based on an order from State Prosecutor Ghassan Oueidat, who also ordered the arrest of another activist according to reports.
Haykal had physically assaulted Energy Minister Walid Fayyad outside a restaurant on Sunday night.
An online video shows Haykal saying “this is a message from all the Lebanese people” before violently pushing Fayyad to a wall. You need to “wake up,” he tells the minister.
Another man is meanwhile seen telling Fayyad that his mother “has no electricity” and that “a massacre happened in Tripoli” whereas he was “having a drink.”
In the same video, a female activist tells the minister that she was interrogated at a State Security center along with other female activists due to his “corruption.”
This is not the first time Fayyad has been intercepted by activists at a restaurant since he was appointed as minister. He is often seen at public places without bodyguards.
In a statement issued Sunday, Fayyad had called on top officials and all security agencies to address the incident, adding that he would personally file a lawsuit against anyone involved in “inciting, monitoring, planning and carrying out this attack.”
“The arrest of the attacker or attackers is not enough and they must rather receive a punishment … that would prevent a repetition of what happened, seeing as the dignity of people, regardless of their positions, is not the property of anyone,” the statement added, describing the attackers as “lawless groups that are violating all laws, norms, ethics and human values while falsely claiming to be speaking in the name of the Lebanese people."
Source: Naharnet
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