Opposition to March to Foreign Ministry over Government Inaction

The March 14 alliance’s youth movement is scheduled to march on Wednesday to the Foreign Ministry in Ashrafiyeh to protest the government’s failure to deal with several issues that have spiraled out of control.

According to An Nahar newspaper published on Tuesday, the youth movement’s rally is aimed at protesting the security chaos in Lebanon, exerting efforts to release the Lebanese abductees in Syria, ending the fighting in the northern city of Tripoli, and halting the spread of illegal arms over Lebanese territories.

The demonstrators will also demand the expulsion of the Syrian ambassador to Lebanon Ali Abdul Karim Ali, to end the Syrian-Lebanese cooperation and coordination treaty over the Syrian violations along the border and will call for the swift the prosecution of ex-Minister Michel Samaha.

The daily said the March 14 leadership urged figures and activists affiliated in the alliance to heavily participate in the rally.

A prominent March 14 source said that the opposition’s leadership sought to “democratically” stir the streets, pointing out that many steps will follow this action.

On Wednesday, the March 14 general-secretariat urged the Lebanese government to file a complaint with the Arab League and the U.N. Security Council against Damascus for violating Lebanese sovereignty.

Lebanon has recently witnessed several security incidents including the bloody clashes between rival neighborhoods Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jabal Mohsen in the past week, the arrest of Samaha on charges of transporting explosive devices from Syria to Lebanon and plotting terrorist attacks with top Damascus security officials, the abduction of several Syrians and two Turkish nationals in retaliation for the kidnapped Lebanese in Syria and several other incidents.