LAF reopens eastern side of Jounieh –Sarba highway

The eastern route of the Jounieh –Sarba highway reopened amid ongoing negotiations between security apparatuses and protestors to open the highway on both sides.

The relatives of the detained officers and LAF supporters earlier took on to the highway and blocked both sides creating a suffocating gridlock on both routes. The protestors cut off the Sarba - Jounieh highway on both sides in front of the Sarba barrack on Monday evening in protest of the re-arrest of the officers detained in the killing of Sheikh Ahmad Abdul Wahed and his companion Sheikh Mohammad Merheb.

The protesters set-up tents in the middle of the highway, stressing that they will not open the road until officers are released.

This as the Free Patriotic Movement’s media relations office called for a rally near the National Museum of Beirut in support and defense of the LAF, and in rejection to the campaigns targeting its soldiers and officers. “The LAF is not an orphan [institution]”, the office said on Monday.       

In a statement, the office stressed that the movement will kick off at 6:30 pm Tuesday, and will include a peaceful march to the military court, in protest of the "continued detention of soldiers and officers and the politicization of the judiciary".