Politicians stress Ain al-Remanneh clash nonpolitical |
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09 October 2009
BEIRUT: While investigations into Tuesday’s Ain al-Remmaneh clashes intensified on Thursday, the security situation remained fragile in the northern city of Tripoli after a grenade was thrown for the second time in as many days at the Al-Ashkar coffee shop in Jabal al-Tabbaneh. Thursday’s attack injured 10 people, raising the the total number of wounded to 18.
Military Prosecutor Judge Saqr Saqr ordered the Lebanese Army intelligence services to intensify their investigations into the Ain al-Remmaneh clashes. Four detainees suspected to be involved in the attack, which occurred late Tuesday night.
Georges Abu Madi, 31, was killed and four others wounded when violence pitted youths from the mainly Shiite district of Shiyyah against residents of the nearby Christian area of Ain al-Remmaneh.
According to a judicial report, Saqr asked to bring in witnesses who might be useful to the course of investigations.
A well-informed judiciary source told The Daily Star Thursday only four people had been arrested so far and that investigations are ongoing to determine the identity of Abu Madi’s killers.
The source added that the detainees provided security forces with “insightful information” regarding the murder case.
Saqr informed Justice Minister Ibrahim Najjar during a phone conversation that the Ain al-Remmaneh case was “temporarily” under the jurisdiction of the military court as the army intelligence is entitled to carry out investigations. He said the case would be transferred to the specialized courts upon the conclusion of investigations.
Meanwhile, in Tripoli, 10 people were wounded when the Al-Ashkar coffee shop in Jabal Mohsen was for the second time this week targeted by a rocket-propelled grenade.
On Wednesday night, eight people were wounded, one seriously, in a grenade explosion targeting the same coffee shop; the blast was followed shortly afterward by a second grenade explosion in the nearby district of Bab al-Tebbaneh.
Tripoli was the scene last year of deadly sectarian clashes bet-ween Sunni supporters of Leba-non’s parliamentary majority and rivals from the Alawite community supported by Syria.
The Ain al-Remmaneh killing sparked fear of incidents similar to the events of May 7, 2008, when bloody clashes broke out between pro-government and opposition gunmen in Beirut and the Chouf.
For the second day in a row on Thursday, Lebanese political parties urged the Lebanese Army as well as judicial authorities to disclose the details of the Ain al-Remmaneh incident.
President Michel Sleiman stressed during talks with Interior Minister Ziyad Baroud the need for coordination between security forces and the army to confront security breaches and to arrest and hand the perpetrators over to the judiciary.
Najjar stressed that no political cover would be granted to those implicated in the clash.
The minister added that the real motives behind the incident should be revealed.
“We cannot afford to delay the probe,” he said.
Meanwhile, Hizbullah and the Amal Movement issued a joint statement condemning the “painful” incident and urging security forces and judicial authorities to disclose the details of the event in order to preserve Lebanon’s stability. “All parties should bear their national responsibilities, preserve coexistence and work in favor of the country’s best interests,” the statement said.
The statement also criticized all those “seeking” to provoke sectarian strife, adding that “impulsive attitudes” do not serve Lebanon’s interests. “The incident was personal rather than politically or religiously motivated,” it said.
On Thursday, Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun said the incident would not be another Ain al-Remmaneh bus incident, referring to a 1975 attack in which gunmen from the right-wing Phalange Party killed Palestinians riding a bus in the neighborhood. The incident is considered the spark of Lebanon’s 15-year Civil War.
Al-Hayat newspaper on Thursday published remarks by MPs who quoted Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri as saying during parliamentary consultations on Wednesday that the group which entered Ain al-Remmaneh “came from [the southern suburb of] Burj al-Barajneh to drink and gamble,” before fighting broke out between residents and the group.
The paper added that Berri told his visitors that “the incident was a personal one but this does not justify what happened particularly since the victim was an innocent bystander.”
Both opposition and majority Christian party leaders, including Aoun and Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea, had denied on Wednesday that the reasons behind the incident were political.
FPM MP Ibrahim Kanaan called Thursday for “severe judicial and security actions to arrest and prosecute the assailants.”
Similarly, Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblatt was quoted in remarks published by An-Nahar newspaper on Thursday as calling on all parties “not to jump to quick conclusions that aim to instigate sectarian tension because the clash is most probably a personal incident.”
Jumblatt added that the security situation in Tripoli raised questions with regard to their timing and the reasons behind them as they coincided with Saudi King Abdullah’s visit to Syria – a visit that he said could harm many domestic and external forces.
© Copyright The Daily Star 2009.
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