BEIRUT:
Around 250 demonstrators staged a sit-in Friday on the approach to the U.S.
Embassy in Beirut to celebrate the recent U.S. withdrawal from Iraq amid strict
security measures.
Lebanese
security forces blocked roads leading to the embassy in Awkar, north of Beirut,
to prevent demonstrators from reaching the facility.
Security
was also tight around the U.S. Embassy itself, witnesses said.
Security
sources said dozens of policemen and Lebanese Army personnel manned road
intersections leading to the embassy.
A
1-kilometer radious around the embassy had also been closed to traffic in an
attempt to curb any possible riot, according to the sources.
The
protestors, however, marched peacefully from Dbayeh, where they had gathered,
to Awkar, about 1 kilometer away, the sources added.
The Socialist Arab Lebanon
Vanguard Party, headed by former Tripoli MP Abdul Majid al-Rafei, had issued a
statement saying it planned to stage a two-hour sit-in outside the U.S. Embassy
between 1 and 3 p.m. Friday.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Politics/2011/Dec-30/158375-anti-us-demo-sets-off-to-us-embassy-amid-tight-security.ashx#axzz1kkzRRrWi
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