Assir says peaceful protest to remain till “death”

A meeting took place Thursday afternoon between Sheikh Ahmad Al-Assir, South Lebanon Governor Nicolas Abu Daher and Brigadier General Tarek Abdallah, whereby Al-Assir announced his disagreement with ending the open ended protest he had staged earlier, stating that “strife and silence over extra state arms go together.”          

Throughout the meeting, participants had agreed on intensifying contacts and efforts to reopen Sidon’s roads and remove the tents set up by protesters. Mufti Susan had said that he had taken it upon himself to contact Assir personally in order to tackle the issue - to no avail.              

Al-Assir insisted the protest will not be halted so long as efforts do not succeed in disarming Hezbollah, adding that this sit in holds as much importance as preotests in Egypt’s Tahrir square do.             

He added that [they] will not return to their homes before a serious solution for disarmament is devised. “Hezbollah’s arms deprived us of our dignity and it is something we cannot live without. The protest shall continue and shall grow in number” he added. For his part, Governer Abu Daher said that things in Saida should go back to normal, and that all of Al-Assir’s demands can be resolved through dialogue.                

Earlier the Sheikh of Imam Bilal Bin Rabah Mosque in Sidon, confirmed that the open-ended sit-in that his supporters started on Wednesday marks the beginning of a revolt against all extra-state arms, confirming that the movement does not harm the prestige of the state.                  

Via Nharkom Said TV show he said that “blocking roads is no more dangerous than extra state arms hegemony over political life [in Lebanon]”, stressing that the sit-in is “peaceful, civilized and endorsed by the majority of the Lebanese people."                      

“The LAF and security forces are protecting us and [we will deal with them peacefully]; we apologize in advance from those who will be affected by the sit-in. Our survival is threatened with the presence of arms; we can no longer tolerate the situation,” he said.               

For his part Minister of Interior Marwan Charbel announced that heightened security measures will continue on the ground and that issues with Sheikh Ahmad Al-Assir will soon be resolved especially since the issue of extra state arms is being discussed on the table of dialogue.       
 
The supporters of Assir reset up their tent on Thursday in the square located between the Hariri Mosque and al-Kilani station, despite a security plan, drawn up by Interior Minister Marwan Charbel, which bans protests and demonstrations across Lebanese regions all month long.               

Stores adjacent to the sit-in location remain closed on Thursday while security forces deterred vehicles from passing across Jisr el Awali.