Lebanon’s Mufti Derian Warns of The 'Revolt of The Hungry'

Grand Mufti Abdelatif Derian and caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab on their way to perform the Eid prayers in Beirut on Thursday (EPA).

Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdellatif Derian expressed his fear “of an explosion or social violence that would lead to the revolt of the hungry,” and launched a violent attack on Lebanese political officials, saying that they had “seriously failed the citizens.”

Mufti Derian, who led Eid-al-Fitr prayers on Thursday, said in his sermon that those working in public political affairs “have severely disappointed their citizens when they indulged in corruption and prevented the formation of a government capable of stopping the collapse.”

He continued: “These politicians are responsible for the corruption, which has become a more terrible epidemic than the coronavirus…They are preventing the functioning of constitutional institutions, hitting the judiciary, resorting to sectarian delusions and separating citizens.”

“These bad actions will not be forgotten by the Lebanese people,” the Grand Mufti said, adding: “We express our fear of an explosion or social violence, which will lead to the revolt of the hungry… Then, remorse will be useless.”

Regarding the government issue, Derian said that the internal and external initiatives to form a government of non-partisan specialists have failed due to “personal interests and selfishness.”

The Mufti said that obstacles were placed in a “systematic manner” to obstruct the mission of the prime minister-designate in forming a new government. He stressed that the country’s collapse would not stop “except with the birth of a government that addresses corruption and carry out the required reforms.”

“May God help the prime minister-designate in his arduous task and be with the caretaker prime minister, who bore what others failed to endure in such difficult circumstances,” he underlined.