Roads Blocked in Tripoli in Protest at Remarks Deemed Insulting to Caliph Omar

Several roads were blocked Monday in the northern city of Tripoli in protest at remarks voiced by a cleric from the Msheik family that were deemed insulting to Islam's second Caliph Omar ibn al-Khattab.

“The Hariri Project-Qobbeh road has been blocked with burning tires in protest at remarks against (detained cleric) Omar al-Atrash that were voiced Sunday during a news bulletin,” state-run National News Agency reported.

But LBCI television said the roads were blocked over “the insulting of the Caliph Omar ibn al-Khattab."

"The army reopened the Abi Samra road after it was blocked by young men protesting remarks voiced by a cleric from the Msheik family," al-Jadeed TV reported later.

However, protests renewed in the evening as demonstrators gathered at the Abu Ali River bridge to denounce Msheik's remarks.

"A grenade exploded near the stream of the Abu Ali River in Tripoli," al-Jadeed added.

On Sunday, members of the Msheik family, which hails from the Bekaa, demonstrated and blocked the Hadath road south of Beirut to protest rumors about a possible release of Sheikh Omar al-Atrash, who has been detained by the army on charges of transporting bomb-laden cars to Beirut and dealing with extremist groups.

During the protest, a young Shiite cleric from the Msheik family described al-Atrash as a murderer, in remarks to LBCI.

“Omar al-Atrash is a murderer takfiri and anyone demanding his release is also a criminal … I want to say something and I hope no one will misunderstand me: Omar al-Atrash has been convicted of murder, bombings and spilling the blood of the Lebanese -- not only the Shiites. We won't rest before you are killed and executed, Omar. May God curse you Omar!” cleric Msheik said in remarks aired by LBCI during its evening news bulletin.

Omar ibn al-Khattab was one of the most powerful and influential Muslim caliphs (rulers) in Islamic history. He was a revered ṣaḥabi or companion of the Prophet Mohammed.

Omar succeeded the first Caliph Abu Bakr (632–634) in 634 AD.

State Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Saqr Saqr has charged Sheikh Omar al-Atrash and five others in connection with two suicide bombings in the Beirut southern suburb of Haret Hreik last month that killed at least six people.

Lebanon has been rocked by a string of bomb attacks in recent months, with three in January alone.

Many have targeted strongholds of Hizbullah, which has drawn the ire of Sunni extremist groups in part because of its role fighting alongside the regime in Syria.

Atrash, who was detained on January 22, admitted ties to three wanted individuals, as well as to the al-Qaida-linked Abdullah Azzam Brigades, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and al-Nusra Front, the Lebanese Army said at the time.

Atrash "confessed to transporting car bombs to Beirut" after receiving them from a Syrian person, as well as "transporting suicide bombers of different Arab nationalities into Syria and handing them over to the al-Nusra Front," the army said.

He also admitted transporting two suicide bombers who were killed in the southern city of Sidon in a gunfight with the army in December.