Precautions to avert clashes during pro-, anti-Assad rallies

Interior Minister Marwan Charbel reassured the Lebanese Saturday that his ministry will take all necessary precautions in Martyrs’ Square to avert clashes during Sunday’s rallies by opponents and supporters of Syrian President Bashar Assad. “The Interior Ministry will take all necessary precautions in regard to the two protests in Martyrs' Square which were called for by Sheikh Ahmad Assir and another group,” Charbel told LBC Television Station. The other group to which Charbel referred is the Lebanese branch of the Baath party. Assir, a controversial preacher and a harsh critic of Assad, whom he described as “a butcher,” called for a mass protest in Martyrs' Square in Downtown Beirut last week in solidarity with the Syrian people, sparking fears of possible tensions as a protest in support of Assad was also announced. The Beirut municipality has not issued permits for either protest, but security forces have been instructed to allow both to proceed. During his Friday sermon in a Sidon mosque, Assir said only death could stop him from staging the anti-Assad demonstration. He held Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah responsible for any harm against the protesters. A n anti-Assad protest in Lebanon earlier in February degenerated into a battle with Assad supporters and left four people dead, including a soldier. The fighting erupted over conflicting views of the uprising in Syria between residents of Jabal Mohsen, considered a bastion of support for Assad, and residents of Bab al-Tabbaneh, who are overwhelmingly opposed to Assad and his regime. During his interview with LBC, the interior minister also said that security forces will separate the two protests in a bid to prevent any clashes and said that whoever wants to participate in the protest has the right to. “There will also be a heavy army presence aside from that of the security forces,” he added.   Meanwhile, the Future Movement said the anti-Assad protest scheduled for Sunday in Downtown Beirut fails to serve the interests of the Syrian people, disassociating itself from the planned rally. “The Future Movement ... considers that such calls at this particular time and in this particular place do not serve the Syrian revolution or the besieged city of Homs,” the party’s press office said.   “The Future Movement affirms that it has no relations with such movements and calls on everyone to adopt that logic which sincerely supports the Syrian revolution rather than any other logic,” it added.