BEIRUT:
Masked men closed several Beirut roads with burning tires late Monday after the
arrest of a suspect in an earlier attack on Al-Jadeed television station in
which a group of gunmen set fire to its entrance and shot at the building.
Groups
of men clashed with the Army and destroyed cars and set tires on fire on Bshara
al-Khoury Avenue near Downtown Beirut, with dark smoke rising into the night
sky and the sounds of gunshots echoing across the heart of the capital.
The
gunmen were said to be protesting the arrest of Wissam Alaaeddine, who was
apprehended in the attack on the premises of Al-Jadeed TV.
The
political affiliation of Alaaeddine was not immediately known, although several
political groups, including the Amal Movement denied any connection to him.
Gunmen
in a car fired shots at the Concorde Center in Verdun, which houses the
Al-Akhbar newspaper, Al-Jadeed reported.
Angry
men also closed roads with burning tires in the Beirut neighborhoods of Ring,
Hawd al-Wilaya, Aisha Bakkar and Hamra, witnessess said.
Also,
the Army made a series of arrests in the Bshara Khoury and Verdun areas Monday
night, according to media reports.
Security
footage from Al-Jadeed TV in Moseitbeh showed several masked men entering the
area outside Al-Jadeed with tires and fuel canisters.
Liquid
was poured over the cement entrance area and around the tires and set ablaze in
a massive fireball that schorched some of the attackers.
The
station reported that the attackers also fired shots at the building, damaging
its interior.
Security
footage from the station showed one of the likely attackers fleeing down the
street with one of his feet on fire. Alaaeddine was apprehended after the
incident by the guards of the Progressive Socialist Party Headquarters nearby.
The
station’s coverage showed Alaaeddine being roughed up by people outside
Al-Jadeed before being handed over to the Internal Security Forces and Army
Information Branch.
President
Michel Sleiman, Prime Minister Najib Mikati, Speaker Nabih Berri and
politicians from across the spectrum contacted Al-Jadeed to voice their concern
over the attack.
Interior
Minister Marwan Charbel, who announced this week that the Lebanese Army and
police are set to begin in July a monthlong crackdown across Lebanon with the
aim of arresting people with outstanding warrants and bolstering security,
condemned the attack on Al-Jadeed, saying the perpetrators would not enjoy
political cover. “This street where the station is was never protected by
security forces; they didn’t give importance to the fact that there is a
station of significance on the street,” Maryam al-Bassam Fadlallah, director of
news programs at New TV, said in an interview with a local television station.
New
TV hosted an interview Sunday with controversial Sidon Shekih Ahmad Assir, who
made threats against Berri and Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah which
many considered sectarian attacks. Assir’s remarks prompted the channel to
apologize for the interview being aired.
Lebanon
has witnessed a string of security incidents in recent months, including
fighting in the Beirut neighborhood of Tariq al-Jdeideh and gunbattles in the
northern city of Tripoli. Fighting has also broken out at two of the country’s
Palestinian refugee camps.
Concerns have been mounting
that Lebanon could see a spillover of violence from neighboring Syria, which
has been reeling from 15-month uprising against President Bashar Assad’s
government.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Local-News/2012/Jun-26/178219-gunmen-menace-beirut-streets.ashx#axzz1ymctop8c
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