Hundreds of members of the Christian Lebanese Forces party blocked roads leading to the home of leader Samir Geagea on Wednesday after he failed to show up for an army intelligence hearing over deadly violence in Beirut.
Geagea was called to testify after the Iran-backed Hezbollah and its ally, the Amal Movement, claimed that members of the Lebanese Forces (LF) killed seven of their supporters in skirmishes on October 14th. His attorneys have filed a lawsuit, claiming that the summons was illegitimate.
Geagea, a former warlord, was imprisoned following Lebanon’s civil war from 1975 to 1990 and released in 2005 after Syrian troops left Lebanon after thirty years of occupation.
The skirmishes between Beirut’s Tayouneh and Ain al-Remmaneh districts on October 14 took place on the former division line.
The gunfire began as supporters of Hezbollah and its Shi’ite partner Amal gathered for a protest against the chief investigator who was probing the port explosion.
According to Geagea, the disturbance began when Shi’ite party members attacked the Christian neighbourhood of Ain al-Remmaneh, vandalising cars and injuring four individuals before firing a shot.
Over the violence, a judge charged 68 people, including 18 inmates, with murder and incitement to sectarianism, and submitted the matter to a military investigating judge. Their political allegiances, if any, are unknown.
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