Electricite du Liban contract employees gathered on Monday outside the office of the company’s general manager.

The general manager was holding a meeting at the time on his 13th-floor office.

Several non-governmental organizations signed on Monday a petition in support of Sudanese refugees’ rights in Lebanon.

“The situation of the Sudanese refugees in the country is deplorable,” a statement issued by the non-governmental agencies said.

The number of Syrian refugees in Lebanon rose to 28,000 but only 20,000 of them are receiving humanitarian assistance throughout the country, the most recent update from the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said Monday.

Field trips and contacts with the Internal Security Forces revealed that new families have recently arrived to several towns in the northeastern Bekaa, including Hermel, al-Qaa and Mazraat Ain el-Jawzeh, it said.

Interior Minister Marwan Charbel considered on Monday that the national dialogue between Lebanese foes eased the tense situation in the country.

“I expect that the results of the second round of the all-party talks will have a better impact locally,” Charbel told Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3).

The Doctors Syndicate held a strike on Monday in protest against the pre-trial detention of Doctor Moussa Abou Hamad, who was allegedly responsible for the death of a pregnant woman.

“The doctors are not criminals and no one should be treated on this basis,” Mustaqbal bloc MP Dr. Atef Majdalani said during a sit-in held at the headquarters of the syndicate.

Any attempt by Hizbullah to keep the issue of its arms away from the proliferation of weapons in Lebanese cities and towns would lead to the obstruction of the national dialogue, centrist ministerial sources warned.

“It would be impossible to hold more dialogue (sessions) if the Hizbullah leadership insisted to take the (issue of) the resistance arms away from the equation of the weapons spread inside cities and outside,” the sources told pan-Arab daily al-Hayat published on Monday.

The Syrian security forces are imposing strict measures on the Lebanese-Syrian border all the way from the eastern border town of Arsal in the Bekaa to the northeastern border town of Wadi Khaled.

“The Syrian forces are strictly controlling the border to prevent gunmen and even humanitarian activists from crossing into Syria,” Syrian sources told the pan-Arab daily al-Sharq al-Awsat on Monday.

Prime Minister of Gaza’s Hamas Government Ismail Haniya condemned on Sunday the “unjustified gunfire” against the residents of the Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp, warning of bids to sow discord between the Lebanese army and the residents.

A Palestinian was killed and three others were wounded on Friday when the Lebanese army opened fire during a spat at the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp in northern Lebanon, a Palestinian source told Agence France Presse.

Head of Loyalty to Resistance parliamentary bloc MP Mohammed Raad said on Sunday that Hizbullah hopes dialogue will lead to “a methodology that guides Lebanese towards the state principle”, pointing out that rational solutions are “necessary to preserve the security of the North.”

During a memorial ceremony in the southern town of Kafra, Raad said that “dialogue is a permanent necessity because it fortifies Lebanon, and contributes to finding appropriate solutions to the crises that beset our country.”

The Lebanese Forces’ candidate for al-Koura by-elections Fadi Karam announced on Sunday his electoral program, which emphasized the importance of the freedom and sovereignty of the state.

He said during a press conference: “Along with my colleagues in the LF, I believe in the rise of a democratic nation ... and an army who weapons cannot be overshadowed by any other.”