Higher Judicial Council fails to meet as Port victims' families rally

Families of the port blast victims gathered Thursday in front of the Justice Palace after some judges asked the Higher Judicial Council to meet to discuss the requirements of the judicial probe into the case of the Beirut port blast.

Prosecutor Ghassan Oueidat left the Justice Palace after quorum was not secured.

Higher Judicial Council judges Habib Mezher, Dany Chebli, Mireille Haddad and Elias Richa on Wednesday invited the Higher Judicial Council to convene Thursday.

Families of the blast victims had on Tuesday stormed the Justice Palace in Beirut in protest at perceived political and judicial obstruction of the investigation, a few days after the judiciary ended a lengthy judicial strike.

The investigation into the blast, which killed over 230 people, injured thousands and caused billions of dollars in damage has been blocked for months now by Lebanon's political powers. That came after three former ministers filed legal challenges against investigative Judge Tarek Bitar effectively suspending his investigations.

A spokesman for the families, William Noon, threatened Thursday that the protests won't be peaceful if the Higher Judicial Council convenes and if its decisions won't be in favor of the families and the victims.

Kataeb MPs Sami Gemayel and Elias Hankash joined the rally in front of the Justice Palace. So did Change MPs Firas Hamdan, Waddah al-Sadek and Paula Yacoubian, independent MP Michel Douaihy, and Lebanese Forces MPs Razi al-Hajj and Ghassan Hasbani.