A media confrontation broke out between former General Michel Aoun's Free Patriotic Movement and police over the arrest of activists accused of receiving training on weapons. FPM MPs representing the Jbeil (Byblos) constituency issued a statement terming the police intelligence branch a "militia."
| That statement makes precisely zero sense. |
The statement said "This militia is raiding residences of FPM activists in Jbeil Province in violation of all laws and procedures."
| That statement's nearly as senseless. What're coppers supposed to do? |
It said FPM activist Dario Qdeih was rounded up from his home and taken to one of the police intelligence branch's offices "without any legal warrant Â… his whereabouts have been unknown for 24 hours."
| "And they won't give his artillery back, neither!" |
Lebanese American University student Elie Abu Youness, also an FPM activist, was also rounded up from his residence Thursday, the statement added. The MPs pledged to "citizens of our constituency that we will save no effort to combat this militia."
| "Or the government. Whatever." |
In response to the FPM charges, police issued a statement and a series of photographs of alleged FPM activists training on the use of weapons and wearing military fatigues. The police statement said that in line with instructions from the military attorney general, two persons were arrested. The statement identified the two by their initials and stressed that they testified to investigators that they are members of the FPM and that they were undergoing military training in Jbeil area with other colleagues. The two, according to the statement, also disclosed the name of the owner of the weapons used by the squad for training. He also was identified by his initials. The military judiciary, in charge of cases related to state security, ordered the arrest of the two suspects and issued a warrant for the weapons' owner, the police statement added. It stressed that it was releasing the photographs of the suspects to inform the Lebanese people of the evidence that led the force to shoulder its responsibility in preventing any one from fiddling with the nation's security. |