Reports of Deployment Maneuver by Aoun”s FPM, Abu Jamra Denies
Gen. Michel Aoun”s Free Patriotic Movement was said to have readied its supporters in the northern Batroun region to carry out a “deployment maneuver” to pave the way for a full-scale riot along with its Hizbullah-led opposition allies later this month.
FPM official, Maj. Gen. Issam Abu Jamra, however, denied the report published on Tuesday, saying the FPM has no “street action plans.”
The report said FPM partisans were instructed to carry out a “deployment maneuver starting 7 p.m. Tuesday in a bid to test the pulse of the Batroun residents” ahead of a full-size street action to be launched after Jan. 27.
A senior source with the March 8 coalition said Opposition factions were almost finished with their “draft
agenda” regarding its broad action in the event that failure of an Arab plan was confirmed and pending outcome of a meeting of Arab foreign ministers in Damascus scheduled for Jan. 27.
The report followed late Monday demonstrations in protest against repeated power cuts.
Angry demonstrators blocked traffic with burning rubber tires in three districts of Beirut that are traditional strongholds of Hizbullah and Amal.
Three separate groups of about 50 people each blocked traffic for about 20 minutes in the seaside southern suburb of Ouzai and the Beirut districts of Zokak Blatt and Msaitbeh, but army patrols rushed and reopened both roads, a police source said.
No casualties were reported among the security forces that dispersed the protests.
A police source refused to answer questions as to whether any arrests have been made.
The developments did not last more than 20 minutes each, according to the source, but raised tension among the weary population.
Such a development has been frequent in pro-Hizbullah districts in the past 10 days. It started in the southern suburb of Ghobeiry and along the old airport road.
Lebanon has been suffering from power failures due to a chain of technical problems inflicted on its network.