Hariri Says Ousted by 'Foreign Orders', Not Parliamentary Consultations

Outgoing premier Saad Hariri on Saturday held broad consultations with March 14 leaders and economic and popular figures before presiding over a meeting for Mustaqbal Movement's politburo that was dedicated to discussing the latest political developments, his press office said.

"The Mustaqbal Movement stresses its commitment to the democratic course," a statement issued after Mustaqbal's politburo meeting said, noting that "the parliamentary consultations conducted by the president" were held amid "fierce foreign pressures aimed at changing the rules of the democratic game."

"Our exit from power was not the immediate result of parliamentary consultations, it rather happened according to foreign orders … executed by domestic tools," the statement added.

During the meeting, Hariri stressed to the political bureau members that "anything related to the so-called S-S (initiative) belongs to the past now and does not exist for Saad Hariri or the Mustaqbal Movement."

He denied approving or signing on any paper "related to the work of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon and its ties with the Lebanese State."

"There is a major difference between discussing certain ideas and approving them," Hariri added.

He urged the conferees to "protect civil peace and coexistence among all Lebanese."

"Each official or member in the (Mustaqbal) movement is responsible for implementing this approach," Hariri added, calling on his movement's members "not to be dragged into sectarian rhetoric."

"If street action was one of the means of expressing our political stance, it should not turn at any given moment into a weapon through which we intimidate others," Hariri went on to say.