Hundreds Rally against Parliament Term Extension, Security Forces Prevent Them from Reaching Nejmeh Square
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
Hundreds of citizens and civil society activists demonstrated Thursday afternoon in rejection of the extension of parliament's term, as security forces prevented them several times from crossing the barriers into Nejmeh Square which houses parliament's building.
Protesters carried banners highlighting the living conditions that the lawmakers have failed to address, such as the new rent law, and slogans against the extension of parliament's mandate, which will go into effect at midnight.
“The people want the fall of the regime” and “MPs, leave now!” were among the slogans chanted by demonstrators.
Protesters also carried Lebanese flags as patriotic and revolutionary songs echoed across the Riad al-Solh square.
“128 thieves have usurped power and those claiming to be against extension must resign so that we can remove their pictures from the list,” activist Imad Bazzi told al-Jadeed television.
“The Constitutional Council proved that it is a copy of the politicians and we only have the street and the people,” Bazzi added, noting that “the street will challenge the extension should the Constitutional Council fail to approve the filed challenges.”
Meanwhile, activist Khodor Salameh told MTV that “none of the political parties represented in parliament is taking place in the demo.”
The MPs “who did not vote (in favor of extension) are partners in crime because they will be receiving their salaries for another 17 months,” Salameh added.
Riot police several times tried to push protesters away from Nejmeh Square as demonstrators hurled plastic water bottles on them amid appeals from the organizers to keep the protest peaceful.
Protesters later announced that they will stay around parliament throughout the night until the Constitutional Council declares its stance on the challenge filed against extension on Friday.
"I support the demands of the civil movement but they must express their opinions peacefully and democratically and security forces must deal with protesters in a wise and calm manner," President Michel Suleiman, meanwhile, said on Twitter.
Ninety-seven out of 128 MPs had voted in favor of extending parliament's term, which ends at midnight, as three judges of the 10-member Constitutional Council have failed to attend four sessions so far, depriving the council of the needed quorum to rule on challenges.
20 June 2013, 20:34
112
BRAVO! Stand up to all these dirtbags who only have their pockets in mind and not the country/people!
20 June 2013, 20:36
210
nowhere in the world but in Lebanon: judges are politicized!
judges are supposed to be impartial, so they can be judges. how in heavens name do shia and druze judges justify themselves?
20 June 2013, 20:38
010
Good move and I wish you the best of luck...both the Constitutional Council and parliament are a joke...
20 June 2013, 22:04
02
Very simple solution:
Those who voted against should reject, for 17 month, being paid and they should make one bloc in itself.
The danger is the presidential election is within this period of extension and the recipe will be applied as dictated by the future Iranian empire.
This is how they kill a country democratically >>>>>>>>
20 June 2013, 22:33
06
Third image. Beautiful.
Inconceivably inept is the parliament ... just, unbelievable. Extending THEIR OWN stay authorized BY THEMSELVES. I can't even
20 June 2013, 23:20
44
yalla ya police, since most demonstrators are probably christians, neither sunnites nor chiites, you can go ahead and attack them with an "iron hand"
21 June 2013, 00:24
05
“128 thieves have usurped power and those claiming to be against extension must resign so that we can remove their pictures from the list,”
WELL SAID!
21 June 2013, 00:26
06
what i love about this is that it's not about M8 or M14, in fact, it's about getting RID of M8 and M14. We're sick of you all - friends of Iran, friends of Saudi. We want friends of Lebanon!
21 June 2013, 01:07
03
A bit ironic isnt it because aoun is the only party against the extension..but i guess alot of people havent realised that yet?
21 June 2013, 05:57
02
Wow ... Power to the people of lebanon. Keep up the good work. And one day we will have areal democracy in lebanon.
21 June 2013, 14:57
01
Wow do y'all see that most of us on this site are in agreement...what a day :)
21 June 2013, 18:12
00
Actually, the 128 are all WINNERS !
The losers are the Lebanese people.
The losers are the imbeciles that voted for them in the first place.
And no, they should not resign. They cannot resign before voting a new electoral law that will obviously be in their advantage anyway.
But what happens if they resign ? Who organises what ?
You end up with a TOTAL VACCUM of Government, Parliament and this is exactly what Hezbollah wants. Full and Total control of Lebanon.
I agree though that the salaries should be frozen. They should be abolished alltogether anyway for MPs who have "other revenues" or assets worth over $1M.
