Lebanon Protesters Defiant Despite Hezbollah, Amal Attack

Police intervene after Hezbollah and Amal supporters fought with protesters at a roadblock on a main road in Beirut, during ongoing anti-government protests ,Lebanon October 29, 2019. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
Police intervene after Hezbollah and Amal supporters fought with protesters at a roadblock on a main road in Beirut, during ongoing anti-government protests ,Lebanon October 29, 2019. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
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Lebanon Protesters Defiant Despite Hezbollah, Amal Attack

Police intervene after Hezbollah and Amal supporters fought with protesters at a roadblock on a main road in Beirut, during ongoing anti-government protests ,Lebanon October 29, 2019. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
Police intervene after Hezbollah and Amal supporters fought with protesters at a roadblock on a main road in Beirut, during ongoing anti-government protests ,Lebanon October 29, 2019. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir

Security forces cleared road blocks across Lebanon Monday, facing off against protesters who took to the streets from the early morning despite being attacked overnight by Hezbollah and Amal supporters.

Demonstrators demanding a complete government overhaul have stayed mobilized since protests began on October 17, but a bitterly divided political class has yet to find a way out of the crisis.

Frustrated by the stalemate, protesters had called for road blocks and a general strike on Monday, but an attack by Hezbollah and Amal supporters on Sunday night weakened the turnout.

Political parties "are trying to instill fear in us as a people, so we don't progress and stay at home," said Dany Ayyash, 21, who was blocking a key road in Beirut's Hamra district early Monday.

"This is what happened today. There was supposed to be a general strike and yet the people are still at home sleeping."

At around midnight on Sunday, Hezbollah and Amal supporters attacked protesters at a flyover near the capital's main protest camp. 

Brandishing party flags, they hurled stones at peaceful demonstrators and taunted them with insults as riot police deployed to contain the violence.

The attackers also ravaged a nearby encampment, tearing down tents and damaging storefronts in their most serious assault on the protesters so far.

At least 10 demonstrators were wounded, civil defense said, without specifying the extent of their injuries.

On Monday morning, scattered stones, shattered glass and the mangled remains of tents littered the ground in the main protest camp. 

Around the square, car windows had been smashed with rocks.

But the demonstrators said they would not cave in.

"The attack gave us all -- at least the ones here right now -- a sense of determination," Ayyash said.

Nearby, security forces deployed along the road after shoving aside demonstrators who had been sitting on the ground.

Salim Mourad, a 31-year-old protester, showed AFP his torn shirt collar, saying riot police dragged him by his shirt.

"We don't want violence," he said.

Security forces also deployed across main arteries in north and east Lebanon Monday, removing metal barricades and dirt barricades raised by demonstrators earlier.

The army said it arrested nine people north of Beirut at dawn after they tried to block roads using burning petrol and shattered glass.

It also arrested four others, releasing three shortly afterwards.

The security forces have come under fresh criticism following Sunday's attack, with protesters accusing them of being lax with Hezbollah and Amal supporters, most of whom were allowed to walk away.

"The thugs throw stones and insult security forces but they don't confront them," said Elie, 24, who was among the protesters attacked.

"They don't arrest them the way they arrest us."

Such criticism prompted Interior Minister Raya al-Hasan on Monday to respond by saying the army and police remain the only "guarantors of the country's stability".

Political leaders have failed to select a new government nearly one month since Prime Minister Saad Hariri's cabinet resigned, bowing to popular pressure.

President Michel Aoun, whose powers include initiating parliamentary consultations to appoint a new premier, said he was open to a government that would include technocrats and representatives of the popular movement -- both key demands of the protesters.

But demonstrators say they reject any government that would also include representatives of established parties.



Türkiye Resolves Residency Dispute of Exiled Brotherhood Judge Sharaby

Egyptian judge Waleed Sharaby (Facebook)
Egyptian judge Waleed Sharaby (Facebook)
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Türkiye Resolves Residency Dispute of Exiled Brotherhood Judge Sharaby

Egyptian judge Waleed Sharaby (Facebook)
Egyptian judge Waleed Sharaby (Facebook)

An exiled Egyptian judge affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood said he ended an open-ended hunger strike after Turkish authorities intervened to resolve his residency status, following a public plea to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Waleed Sharaby, who fled to Türkiye in 2016 after being sentenced in Egypt, announced on Facebook late Thursday that he was halting his protest, which began outside a police station where he had been staging a sit-in.

He said the hunger strike was in response to Turkish authorities preventing him from leaving the country and refusing to renew his residency for nearly two years.

Sharaby claimed Turkish security services had acted on pressure from Egypt’s intelligence services, prompting him to appeal directly to Erdogan. He did not provide evidence for the alleged interference.

Moreover, Sharaby said he ended a two-day hunger strike and sit-in protest in Türkiye after receiving a call from a senior Turkish official who pledged to resolve his legal and residency issues.

Sharaby wrote on Facebook that he returned home and resumed eating on Thursday after the official, whose identity he did not disclose, invited him to a meeting and assured him that part of the issue would be resolved soon. “We may succeed in fully resolving the matter following this initial step,” he said.

Sharaby, who fled Egypt in 2016 after court rulings against him, began his hunger strike on Wednesday outside a police station in protest over what he described as Turkish authorities’ refusal to renew his residency for nearly two years and a travel ban that prevented him from leaving the country.

According to sources, Turkish authorities briefly detained him on Wednesday while attempting to depart the country, citing alleged financial violations involving Turkish citizens. He was held for a day before being released, after which he launched his protest.

During his sit-in, Sharaby publicly appealed to Erdogan via Facebook, asking for a personal meeting or for the issue to be referred to the appropriate authorities.

He claimed he had been subjected to “severe harassment” and travel restrictions, including pressure on a business he owns in Türkiye and a ban on leaving the country to seek asylum, reportedly in a European state, where his wife and children relocated nearly two years ago.

Turkish authorities have not publicly commented on the case. Türkiye has hosted several exiled members of the Muslim Brotherhood following the group's ouster from power in Egypt in 2013, though Ankara has since moved to restore ties with Cairo.

Sources close to Sharaby said Turkish authorities have agreed to grant him humanitarian residency, allowing him to remain in the country permanently despite the expiry of his Egyptian passport.

The move aligns with similar measures taken for other members of the Muslim Brotherhood, which is designated a terrorist organization by the Egyptian government.