Berri Warns against Strife, Urges Security Forces to Keep Roads Open

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri on Monday condemned the overnight incidents in central Beirut and on the Jiye highway between the capital and the South.

The incidents “are condemned by all standards, seeing as the struggle for livelihood was baptized in blood with the martyrdom of Hussein Shalhoub and Sanaa al-Jundi,” Berri said, referring to a car crash in which the two citizens were killed near a roadblock on the Jiye highway.

CCTV footage shows the speeding car hitting a metallic barrier before driving into a pole placed on the ground and catching fire. Protesters in the area said the metallic barrier was erected by the army and that they were hundreds of meters away. Some social media users have accused protesters of hurling rocks at the car.

Berri urged security forces and army troops to keep the country’s roads open.

“We call on all Lebanese to avoid descending into the dangerous implications of strife and we renew the call for security forces and the Lebanese Army to take strict measures to keep the country’s routes passable,” the Speaker added.

He also called for “preserving the right to express opinions under the ceiling of the law and in a manner that does not harm civil peace, the dignities of all people and public and private property.”

The Ring highway in central Beirut and the nearby Riad al-Solh, Martyrs Square and Monot areas had overnight witnessed an attack by supporters of Hizbullah and Berri’s AMAL Movement.

Brandishing party flags, they hurled stones at peaceful demonstrators and taunted them with insults as riot police deployed to contain the violence.

The attackers also ravaged a nearby encampment, tearing down tents and damaging storefronts in their most serious assault on the protesters so far.

At least 10 demonstrators were wounded, civil defense said, without specifying the extent of their injuries.