FPM Endorses Protesters Demands in Pro-Aoun Baabda Demo
Supporters of the Free Patriotic Movement on Sunday flocked to the presidential palace road in Baabda from areas across Lebanon to show support for President Michel Aoun on the third anniversary of his election, and in the face of unprecedented protests against the entire political class.
“We tell all those who took to the squares that their demands are our demands and nothing separates us other than disinformation and those trying to exploit them,” Nicolas Sehnaoui -- an ex-telecom minister and a former FPM deputy chief -- told reporters at the rally.
MP Asaad Dergham of the FPM’s Strong Lebanon bloc meanwhile told MTV that the FPM demo is not aimed at pitting a street against another and is not a “show of force.”
“We tell our brothers on the squares that we complete each other,” he added.
Noting that the new government will comprise “less than 30 ministers” and that there is “no problem” with caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri or any other candidate, Dergham stressed that the FPM “wants transparency and a state of institutions and will no longer accept bargains.”
The National News Agency said the FPM demonstrators were calling for “a fight against corruption and the fulfillment of demands according to a legal mechanism and the president’s plan.”
All parties must “go to parliament to legislate laws, recover the looted funds and lift bank secrecy,” NNA quoted the protesters as saying.
The rally started at 11:30 am with a speech by President Aoun’s adviser Pierre Raffoul, who called for supporting the president and thanked the demonstrators for their stances and “honorable participation.”
The rally was dubbed “O People of Loyalty”.
NNA meanwhile reported “fainting” cases among the demonstrators.
“God, Lebanon and Aoun” and “Hela, Hela, Ho, We Love Jebran Bassil” were some of the slogans chanted by demonstrators.
Some of the demonstrators had overnight camped in the area near the Baabda Palace to prepare for the rally.
The pro-Aoun demo comes after more than two weeks of massive nationwide anti-graft protests that brought down the government.
Another such anti-graft demonstration is planned in Beirut to demand a complete overhaul of a political system deemed inefficient and corrupt.
In Baabda, supporters of Aoun filled up a two-kilometer-long road leading to the presidential palace, an AFP correspondent said.
Fans of the president waved large Lebanese flags and orange-colored banners of the political party he founded, the Free Patriotic Movement.
"We are here, General. We won't abandon you as long as we live," one poster read, responding to a cross-sectarian movement calling for an end to his term.
Some Aoun supporters wore orange T-shirts while others held up portraits of the 84-year-old president.
"General Aoun is a reformist and sincere man -- not corrupt nor a thief," said one supporter who gave her name as Diana.
"There has been corruption in the state for 30 years. The president isn't responsible. He's trying to fight against graft," she said.
In Baabda, Aoun supporters said they backed the general demands of protesters nationwide, but insisted the president was the only man able to bring about reforms.
"There were slogans against the president. That's not fair," said Hanna Nader, an unemployed man in his forties.
More than 25 percent of the Lebanese live in poverty, the World Bank says.
Economic growth in Lebanon has stalled in recent years in the wake of repeated political crises, compounded by an eight-year civil war in neighboring Syria.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Saad Hariri announced his cabinet would step down.
But it is still unclear what a new government will look like and if it will include independent technocrats as demanded by demonstrators.
Thousands of anti-government protesters flocked together in the northern city of Tripoli Saturday night, many from other parts of the country.
Source: Naharnet, Agence France Presse
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