Berri Slams 'Unbelievable' Hamra Rioting, Reassures on Small Deposits

Speaker Nabih Berri on Wednesday condemned the overnight clashes and rioting on Beirut’s Hamra Street, describing them as “unbelievable.”

“In my name and in the name of parliament, we announce our strong condemnation of what happened on Hamra Street, which is unacceptable,” Berri said during his weekly meeting with lawmakers in Ain el-Tineh.

“I’m not accusing certain individuals and I’m not accusing the civil protest movement. There was something deliberate and systematic by unknown individuals. Do they want to destroy the country?” Berri added.

“Beirut is the capital of all of us… and what happened is unbelievable. Actually if the protest movement is like this, it is neither a protest movement nor a revolution,” the Speaker went on to say.

Noting that security forces have arrested a number of “suspects,” Berri called for “holding the perpetrators accountable, whichever side or sect they may belong to.”

Separately, Berri put MPs in the picture of the meeting between the Finance Parliamentary Committee and the central bank governor, reassuring the Lebanese over “their savings and anxiousness over their bank deposits, especially those belonging to small depositors and expats.”

“Measures are being prepared in order to protect the people’s money and public funds,” the Speaker added.

“Parliament is ready to secure the protection of people’s rights,” he said.