Al-Miqdad blocks road in trial delay protest

More than 200 members of the Lebanese al-Miqdad clan have blocked the main roads in the south of Beirut to protest against the delayed trials of their members. The defendants have been accused of forming an armed organisation and kidnapping foreigners. The authorities failed to convince the protesters to reopen the roads. Children and women were also part of the protest. Families carried banners which read "Thanks for imprisoning our children". The father of Maher al-Miqdad, the spokesman of the organisation, said: "We are peaceful, and we apologise for those who suffered from our action." Maher al-Miqdad, who belongs to the military wing of Al-Miqdad, is among the defendants. He is accused of having kidnapped Turkish and Syrian nationals after one of his relatives, Hosam al-Miqdad disappeared in Damascus.