Hizb Ut-Tahrir vows to defy Tripoli protest ban

TRIPOLI: The army and security authorities will take necessary measures to ban a demonstration planned in Tripoli by a controversial Islamist party in support of anti-regime protests in Syria Friday, after the group had announced that it would defy the ban and go ahead with the protest.

The decision to take the measures came during a security meeting chaired by caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri at his Downtown residence in Beirut Thursday. In attendance were caretaker Interior Minister Ziyad Baroud, the head of the Internal Security Forces, Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi, Army Commander Gen. Jean Kahwagi and head of the ISF Information Branch Col. Wissam al-Hassan.
The attendees highlighted the importance of the firm implementation of a decision taken by the North Lebanon Security Council to ban demonstrations in Tripoli, and the need to see the army and security personnel take all required measures to implement the decision and act firmly should any party attempting to challenge the decision.

The council rejected Wednesday requests for permits to hold two demonstrations, one against and the other in support of the Syrian regime in Tripoli Friday.

Participants in the security meeting stressed the importance of bringing to justice “all those who try to tamper with security and stability in these sensitive and delicate circumstances facing Lebanon and the region.”

While the pro-Syrian regime demonstration was canceled, Hizb Ut-Tahrir, an Islamist party that considers all Arab states illegitimate because they are “pro-Western,” was adamant about staging the protests despite the ban.

The party’s media official, Ahmad Qasas, told a news conference at the party’s headquarters in Tripoli Thursday that attempts to suppress the demonstration came in line with instructions made by the Syrian regime to official authorities in Lebanon, and to some pro-Damascus groups, adding that the justifications for the ban were “illegal.”

Qasas said the party had nothing to do with statements that bore a forged signature of his, along with that of other Lebanese parties, and that urged a turn-out for the protest. He stressed that the call for the demonstration was an “independent decision” without any coordination with “influential and ruling political factions in Lebanon.”

Qasas said that Friday’s demonstration was in line with the council’s decision, which permitted a gathering at a specified public square from which protesters would not march.

He said protesters planned to move from the Mansouri Grand Mosque following Friday prayers and take “the shortest routes” to the designated location, near the Nour square. Observers told The Daily Star that protesters would nonetheless have to walk through many streets in the city.

Qasas said acts of “oppression” against the party and the arrest of 16 members of Hizb Ut-Tahrir by security authorities in recent days represented an “unjustified assault,” and that detentions were aimed at pressuring the party to cancel the protest. “Accordingly, the demonstration will take on an additional objective: protesting the Lebanese authorities’ oppression of people who have a political opinion.”

A security source told The Daily Star that security personnel would try to restrict the demonstration to areas surrounding the mosque and prevent protesters from marching through Tripoli’s streets.

Meanwhile, the Islamic Labor Front issued a statement that urged Hizb Ut-Tahrir to cancel the demonstration “because it will definitely not serve the interests of the brotherly Syrian people.”

The Future Movement criticized certain media outlets and political factions for what it said was “dragging the movement’s name into calls for demonstrating under the slogan of “expressing solidarity with the Syrian people,” as it denied any links to Friday’s protest.

Source : dailystar.com.