SIDON, Lebanon: More than 300 Lebanese rallied in the coastal city of Sidon in support of a fugitive cleric yesterday, a day after an audio recording believed to be his voice urged followers to demonstrate.
The protest march prompted fears of more fighting in Sidon two weeks after the cleric’s supporters and soldiers clashed there, in the worst outbreak of violence in Lebanon so far fuelled by the two-year conflict in neighboring Syria.
Angry demonstrators waved banners and cheered their support for Sheikh Ahmed Al-Assir, a firebrand cleric.
Assir, now on the run, was a staunch supporter of Syria’s uprising and accused the army of backing the interests of the guerrilla group Hezbollah, which is now openly fighting on behalf of President Bashar Assad.
Local residents said the route of the march passed near a Shi’ite neighborhood, which they feared could spark clashes. More than 40 people were killed in the fighting two weeks ago.
“With blood and soul, we sacrifice for you Assir,” the sheikh’s supporters shouted as they clapped their hands and marched out of the charred and bullet-scarred buildings around the cleric’s Bilal Bin Rabah mosque complex.
Lebanese protesters rally in support of fugitive scholar
