BEIRUT:
Protesters briefly blocked roads in the Bekaa, in the country’s northeast,
Tuesday to denounce the re-arrest of Lebanese Army officers in the
investigation into the killing of two Akkar sheikhs.
Some
fifty residents of the area blocked the road leading to Bidnayel and Maqne
while roads to Batroun and Jounieh were reopened by the army overnight.
Authorities
detained 16 Lebanese soldiers and officers during the investigation of the
killing of two Akkar sheikhs at a military checkpoint in May. Eleven of those
detained were released on bail at the beginning of the month.
The
investigative judge decided to re-arrest the officers days ago after further
investigations. The original release had been highly unpopular in Tripoli,
where protests were held.
Protesters
calling themselves “friends of the Army” blocked the highway connecting Beirut
to Jounieh Monday to protest the re-arrest of the officers. They slammed what
they described as the politicized investigation into the killing of the two
sheikhs.
Meanwhile,
Free Patriotic Movement MP Ibrahim Kanaan said Tuesday that his party’s protest
at 6 p.m. in front of the military tribunal is a national movement and in
support of the Army.
“It
is a national movement far from politics,” Kanaan told Voice of Lebanon Radio
Station.
He
added that Monday’s road-blocking in Jounieh was a message that “the army is a
red line.”
“We are not against justice
but it cannot be achieved by forcing the judiciary and institutions to succumb
[to certain demands],” Kanaan said.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Local-News/2012/Jul-17/180872-protesters-block-roads-in-northeast-lebanon-protest-re-arrest-of-army-officers.ashx#axzz20mFkUNDx
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