Abra’s citizens demonstrate in support of Sheikh Assir

A number of citizens participated on Friday in a demonstration outside the Bilal Bin Rabah Mosque in Sidon’s Abra region, hoisting banners in support of the hardline Sunni clerk Sheikh Ahmad Assir.               

Following Friday Prayers, Sheikh Othman Hanini said that arrest warrants should no longer be issued and called for fair trials for the persons accused of instigating and participating in the Abra clashes.             

For his part, the new Imam of the Bilal Bin Rabah mosque Sheikh Mohammad Abou Zeid called for the release of “innocent persons,” and for the halt of all prosecutions.      

Fighting in Sidon city began Sunday the 23rd of June after troops arrested a follower of hardline Sunni cleric Sheikh Ahmad al-Assir. The army said the cleric's supporters opened fire without provocation on an army checkpoint.                    

Official reports said at least 17 soldiers were killed and 50 others were wounded in the fighting while more than 20 of al-Assir's supporters died in the battle, according to a security official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to talk to reporters.           

Al-Assir is a virulent critic of the powerful Shiite group Hezbollah group, which along with its allies dominates Lebanon's government.        

He supports rebels fighting to oust Syria's President Bashar Assad. The 2-day fighting between troops and armed supporters of al-Assir have transformed the city which had been largely spared the violence plaguing border areas near Syria, into a combat zone.