Geagea Says Revolt in Syria Will Not End, Calls on Christians to Cling to their Land
Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea called on Saturday the national community and Arab countries to sponsor a “sincere” referendum in Syria as “ending the revolution would be an illusion,” reiterating that safeguarding the Christians in the region isn’t by “throwing them in the hands of repressive regimes.”
“There will be many difficulties and obstacles ahead of us… but these difficulties will not deter us from reaching our goals,” Geagea said during a rally at Biel in Downtown Beirut.
The rally is held under the slogan “The Spring of the People, the Autumn of Eras,” marking the 1994 disbanding of the Lebanese Forces Party.
The most important thing is that the Arab Spring road is the righteous path for freedom and life,” Geagea stressed.
“Our duty is to encourage moderation instead of spreading the spirit of racist divisions,” he stressed.
He said that the Christians in Syria are “native inhabitants, as there is a moderate Muslim majority calling for freedom and democracy.
“Those who really care about the fate of Christians in the (Middle) East, shouldn’t make them feel desperate, hopeless and afraid thus throwing them in the hands of the repressive regimes under the pretext of protection them,” Geagea noted.
He called on Christians during the 18th anniversary of ending the LF party to hold onto their land and to face the events and the transformations in order to “defend their beliefs.”
The LF leader slammed the Syrian’s regime crackdown on protest hubs, saying: “Those who think that the diplomatic maneuvers would help gain time to put out the flame of the revolution are delusional.”
“The persistent use of violence in Syria will not weaken the revolution, but will strengthen the extremists.”
He stated that the “real solution for the Syrian crisis would be by setting a genuine popular referendum under the sponsorship of the Arab countries and the United Nations Security Council.”
“Democracy is the only solution,” Geagea added.
During Lebanon’s Civil War, the movement fought as the main Christian militia, and after the conflict ended,
The LF reinvented itself after the Lebanese Civil War as a political party under Geagea’s leadership. However, in 1994, while Lebanon was under Syrian tutelage, the party was banned, Geagea imprisoned and the activities of its members repressed.
The party returned as a political force after the Cedar Revolution in early 2005 that led to the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon.
Soon after, Geagea was subsequently released from prison.
Concerning the local situation, he said that the change and reform in Lebanon carried by the cabinet is affecting the quality of political work in Lebanon and abusing the public affairs.
Geagea slammed the political parties affiliated in the cabinet saying that their words became “meaningless,” as it is only a “cheap propaganda aimed at staining the reputation of others.”
“They have been in power for almost a year now. Where are the reforms? And where is the change?”
Regarding the rights of the Christians in Lebanon, Geagae lashed out at the cabinet for not retrieving back the rights of Christians in the state.
He called on the supporters of the Free Patriotic Movement to cooperate in the change and reform process against “any attempts to tutelage Lebanon, against oppression, tyranny, underdevelopment, corruption, exile and political arrests.”
Geagea called “for a free, sovereign, independent Lebanon and a strong state where change and reform dominates” all disputes.
Source: Naharnet
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