Sheikh Assir refuses to end the protest in Saida

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Salafist Sheikh Ahmad al-Assir, whose supporters have been since yesterday holding an open protest against non-state arms in the coastal city of Saida, said on Thursday that he will not end the protest.

“I was not convinced of ending the protest [as it] does not cause strife but [non-state] arms do,” Assir told reporters following a meeting with Acting-Governor of South Lebanon Nicolas Bou Daher and Internal Security Forces commander in the South Tarek al-Abdullah.

Non-state arms or Resistance arms are terms used to describe the arsenal of the Iranian and Syrian backed Hezbollah militant group

Abdullah and Bou Daher were dispatched by Interior Minister Marwan Charbel earlier on Thursday to convince Assir to end the sit-in staged by the sheikh’s supporters at Saida’s eastern entrance.

Assir also told reporters that the sit-in was “peaceful” like Egypt’s Tahrir Square protest, which toppled veteran strongman Hosni Mubarak last year.

“If we do not see a response to our demands [to end presence of non-state arms], we will escalate the protest. We are not dealing with [normal] people, but with [people] who consider themselves gods,” the sheikh said in an implicit reference to Hezbollah.

“I swear we will not go home before we feel that [the matter of non-state] arms will be seriously addressed. The protest will peacefully resume until death. We cannot live without dignity and the Resistance’s arms have deprived us of dignity,” Assir added.

Now Lebanon

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8 responses to “Sheikh Assir refuses to end the protest in Saida”

  1. 5thDrawer Avatar
    5thDrawer

    Wow … a ‘peacenik’ … they always cause trouble, don’t they?  😉
    That ‘in your face’ attitude always creates so many problems … especially when right.
    “The truth that makes men free is for the most part the truth which men prefer not to hear.” — Herbert Agar

    The Salafist Sheikh may have been reading the words of Buddha: “However many holy words you read, However many you speak, what good will they do you If you do not act on upon them?”
    Yet he must keep the ‘demonstration’ peaceful at all costs, on his side anyway, and perhaps he understands that.
    He could remember the words of Mahatma Gandhi: “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”
    Oh… yah … India … well, we know what he meant … 😉

  2. 5thDrawer Avatar
    5thDrawer

    Wow … a ‘peacenik’ … they always cause trouble, don’t they?  😉

  3. MeYosemite Avatar
    MeYosemite

    Keep it up. We need folks to stand against the tyrants of Lebanon.

    1. 73Corty77 Avatar
      73Corty77

      Tyrants you say, And I suppose what these Salafist animals are doing in north Lebanon to the Aliwate community is justifiable hey. Oh that’s right, its justified by them saying Jihad, kill the non Islamic Aliwates.
      People like this pubic faced so called Sheikh say on thing and do another. 

      1. MeYosemite Avatar
        MeYosemite

        The guy is demonstrating peacefully for no weapons in this article and that ‘s where the story ends for me. A message that I support. I will put him down if his sit in turns out agressive. Lebanon lacks the individual free speech capability being immediately judged on his affiliations deeds. Along that line and example, if I criticize Hezbollah, it is my opinion and not me serving the west. Once lebanese learn to think as an individual, real progress is made.

  4. MeYosemite Avatar
    MeYosemite

    Keep it up. We need folks to stand against the tyrants of Lebanon.

    1. 73Corty77 Avatar
      73Corty77

      Tyrants you say, And I suppose what these Salafist animals are doing in north Lebanon to the Aliwate community is justifiable hey. Oh that’s right, its justified by them saying Jihad, kill the non Islamic Aliwates.
      People like this pubic faced so called Sheikh say on thing and do another. 

      1. MeYosemite Avatar
        MeYosemite

        The guy is demonstrating peacefully for no weapons in this article and that ‘s where the story ends for me. A message that I support. I will put him down if his sit in turns out agressive. Lebanon lacks the individual free speech capability being immediately judged on his affiliations deeds. Along that line and example, if I criticize Hezbollah, it is my opinion and not me serving the west. Once lebanese learn to think as an individual, real progress is made.

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