Abdallah Supports Protest near French Contingent Headquarters, Threaten Escalation

Several protesters demonstrated on Saturday near the headquarters of the French UNIFIL peacekeepers in the southern village of Deir Kifa over the ongoing detention of Lebanese leftist militant Georges Abdallah.

Joseph Abdallah, the brother of former guerrilla in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) Abdallah, who has spent 28 years in jail, warned that demonstrators will hold sit-ins near French institutions across Lebanese territories and will hassle all French nationals in the country.

“Georges has informed us from his prison that he will stay strong and keep resisting until he is free and visits the South,” he told protesters.

Demonstrators lashed out at France and the United States, considering that “France replaced Charles de Gaulle and Montesquieu with an American France.”

They accused France of violating human rights convention.

MTV also reported that Abdallah's supporters blocked the road in front of a vehicle belonging to the French contingent in the area.

Meanwhile in Paris, around 100 person rallied on Saturday in front of the Ministry of Interior demanding the release of Abdallah, Agence France Presse reported.

“Security forces prevented the protesters from approaching the ministry's headquarters,” the AFP said.

“Abdallah' release was obstructed by an incomprehensible cycle of procedures,” the protesters expressed in an issued statement.

On Monday, scores of protesters demonstrated outside the French embassy in Beirut over a delay by Paris in releasing Abdallah, who was granted parole on a life sentence handed down in 1987.

A French court granted Abdallah parole in November on condition he be deported but the interior ministry had yet to issue the deportation order. The court postponed its decision on his release until January 28.

The supporters of Abdallah fear that the postponement is a first step to renew his detention.

Abdallah has been eligible for parole since 1999 but seven previous applications were all rejected.