The U.N. Security Council on Monday called for "the peaceful character of the protests" in Lebanon to be upheld after overnight attacks by supporters of Hizbullah and AMAL.

Members "called on all actors to conduct intensive national dialogue and to maintain the peaceful character of the protests by avoiding violence and respecting the right to peaceful assembly in protest," it said in a statement approved unanimously at the end of a regular council meeting on Lebanon.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Monday condemned the overnight attack on protesters in central Beirut as an “attack on Lebanon.”

“The attack did not only target peaceful youths, but also the army and security forces,” he said during a visit to Cairo.

Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat on Monday warned against the blocking of roads in the wake of the overnight incidents in Jiye and central Beirut.

“Road blocking by any side will only lead to troubles, tensions and victims,” Jumblat tweeted.

Hizbullah on Monday described as a “terrorist crime” the car crash that resulted in the death of two citizens near a protest roadblock on Jiye’s highway.

“The horrible crime resulted from militia-like attacks by groups of bandits who are practicing the ugliest forms of humiliation and terrorism against innocent civilians commuting on roads,” Hizbullah’s media department said in a statement.

U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jan Kubis on Monday urged Lebanon’s political parties to “control their supporters” and refrain from exploiting the protests that have been sweeping the country since October 17.

“The attack of last night of groups under Hizbullah & Amal flags on demonstrators again exposed how dangerous are such actions of political activists, how easily they can trigger confrontation, even sectarian ones, how challenging it is for security forces to protect law and order,” Kubis said in a tweet.

Judicial and security authorities on Monday launched investigations into the overnight incidents that rocked central Beirut, under the supervision of State Prosecutor Ghassan Oueidat, state-run National News Agency said.

NNA said the violence “resulted in the injury of a large number of servicemen and civilians, the vandalizing of cars and shops on Monot Street, and aggression and intimidation against innocent civilians.”

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri on Monday condemned the overnight incidents in central Beirut and on the Jiye highway between the capital and the South.

The incidents “are condemned by all standards, seeing as the struggle for livelihood was baptized in blood with the martyrdom of Hussein Shalhoub and Sanaa al-Jundi,” Berri said, referring to a car crash in which the two citizens were killed near a roadblock on the Jiye highway.

President Michel Aoun and caretaker PM Saad Hariri separately held meetings Monday with Richard Moore, Director General for Political Affairs at the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office where talks discussed the latest developments.

Dozens of vehicles in Monot street and Saifi village, east of Beirut Central District, were vandalized after AMAL and Hizbullah supporters attacked anti-government protesters after midnight on Sunday across the Ring Bridge thoroughfare.

Richard Moore, Director General for Political Affairs at the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office, is visiting Lebanon on Monday for high level meetings with Lebanese officials, accompanied by Her Majesty’s Ambassador to Lebanon Chris Rampling, a press release said.