The Daily Star - Anti-Syrian protest to go ahead despite ban - April 21, 2011

By Antoine Amrieh

The Daily Star “The party will demonstrate in support of the oppressed [Syrian] people who are subjected to the worst forms of abuse,” Ahmad Kasas said Thursday. BEIRUT: Hizb Ut-Tahrir’s media official, Ahmad Qasas, told local media outlets Thursday that the party would not cancel the demonstration despite rejection by the local authorities. “We do not recognize political borders between states,” he said. Security officials in the north have rejected requests for permits to hold two demonstrations, one against and the other in support for the Syrian regime in Tripoli Friday. The decision came after the North Lebanon Security Council convened in Tripoli’s Serail Wednesday under Nassif Qaloush, the governor of the north, in the presence of top north Lebanon-based security officials. The permit for the two demonstrations were rejected because it did not meet “legal conditions,” the Council said. “The party will demonstrate in support of the oppressed [Syrian] people who are subjected to the worst forms of abuse,” Kasas told OTV television station Thursday. The council demanded that rallies gather instead in a hall or a public square from which they do not march, after coordinating with the army and relevant security authorities, in order to preserve civil peace in Tripoli and the north and because the planned demonstrations coincide with Good Friday. The anti-Syrian-regime protest is called for by Hizb Ut-Tahrir, a controversial Islamist party that believes all Arab states lack legitimacy for being “pro-Western,” while the other is organized by a group of former Akkar MP Wajih Baarini and other factions close to Syria. Qasas said the ban was political rather than legal. “We do not care for it. If a clash breaks out, we will not be the initiators.” Also Wednesday, Hizb Ut-Tahrir issued a statement in response to remarks made by caretaker Interior Minister Ziyad Baroud the day before and said that any official decision to reject the party’s permit request was illegal and not objective. After chairing a meeting for the Central Security Council, Baroud said there were two permit requests for demonstrations planned to be held at the same time and “taking almost the same routes” on Good Friday. “Tripoli … has Christian and Muslim residents and Christians there have the right to practice their religious rituals that include the Good Friday [prayers] and circling in the city,” Baroud said, adding that the North Lebanon Security Council would take all this into consideration. Hizb Ut-Tahrir said the party sent a notification about the demonstration to the north Lebanon governorate on April 18, “and we have the receipt that proves so,” while the other side sent its notification the following day. “Accordingly, applicable standards require that the governorate demands [from the other side] to specify another location [for the protest] … or postpone it to another day,” said the statement. Hizb Ut-Tahrir added that the route to be taken by protesters does not pass through areas inhabited by Christians and the timing of the protests does not coincide with [Good Friday] rituals. Separately, the National News Agency reported Wednesday that army intelligence personnel arrested four Hizb Ut-Tahrir members in Abdeh, Akkar. The four were driving two cars and urging people through a loudspeaker to take part in Friday’s protests. Qasas said members from Hizb Ut-Tahrir had been illegally detained, and added: “It seems authorities in Lebanon have yet to learn a lesson from the fate of repressive regimes.” The Kataeb (Phalange) party issued a statement in which it denied any responsibility for fliers that call for protests against the Syrian regime, said to be circulating in Tripoli and bearing the signature of the party along with that of the Future Movement, Lebanese Forces, National Liberal Party, Hizb Ut-Tahrir and the Salafi Movement. Palestinian factions in the north called upon Palestinians in the region not to take part in any demonstration Friday or on any other day. Meanwhile, former Tripoli MP Mosbah Ahdab rejected in a statement moving protests from Syria “to Tripoli, which already has enough developmental, economic and living problems along with pending political issues.”