North Security Council Rejects Requests to Stage Pro- and Anti-Syrian Regime Protests in Tripoli

The security council of the North announced on Wednesday that it had rejected all requests to stage demonstrations in Tripoli, including Hizb ut-Tahriri’s anti-Syrian regime protest.

It explained that the requests did not meet legal conditions and they would have taken place when Christians in Lebanon would be celebrating Good Friday.

The pan-Islamic party, Hizb ut-Tahrir, had presented on Tuesday a request to North Lebanon governor Nassif Qaloush informing him of its intention to hold a demonstration in Tripoli on Friday in support of the anti-regime protests in Syria.

Other national parties in Tripoli and northern Lebanon also presented similar requests to the governor, however they intend on staging pro-regime protests.

Caretaker Interior Minister Ziad Baroud meanwhile announced on Tuesday that he is likely to prevent the two opposing demonstrations from taking place.

Hizb ut-Tahrir later issued a statement condemning the attempts to prevent its demonstration, deeming them as “illegal and politically motivated.”

It also slammed the “biased” statements by some political sides aimed at discouraging and intimidating those seeking to take part in the protest, “which therefore makes any official decision to prevent the rally illegal and biased.”

Meanwhile, seven members of Hizb ut-Tahrir were arrested for posting such leaflets calling, a party spokesman told Agence France Presse on Tuesday.

"The Lebanese army on Tuesday arrested three members of Hizb ut-Tahrir in the southern city of Sidon as they were posting leaflets around the city calling for demonstrations against the Syrian regime on Friday in Tripoli," spokesman Ahmed al-Qasas told AFP.

Four other people were arrested in Tripoli on Monday when they too tried to hand out leaflets calling for a rally on Friday.

Hizb ut-Tahrir (Arabic for "Party of Liberation") is an international movement that seeks to restore the caliphate, or unite all Muslim countries under one Islamic rule.

The group has a strong presence in Asia, mainly Indonesia, and has spread to several Arab countries, where it is for the most part banned.

Hizb ut-Tahrir is not banned in Lebanon, however, although the group recognizes neither official borders nor the country's constitution.