Jumblat Calls for Restraint after Slaying of PSP Member
Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat on Sunday called for restraint after a PSP member died of injuries sustained in clashes with supporters of March 8 Forces the day before.
"Lutfi Zeineddine died on Sunday morning of injuries received during attacks by supporters of the opposition on those who participated on Saturday in the anniversary of the assassination of Rafik Hariri," a PSP statement said.
"True. A significant political dispute exists" between March 14 and March 8 Forces. But we don”t have enemies at home," Jumblat told reporters from Shbaniyeh in Upper Metn after offering condolences to the Zeineddine family.
"The mind tells us not to react" to the attack, Jumblat stressed. "We have chosen a quiet dialogue" with March 8 Forces.
The PSP statement said Zeineddine”s son, Shadi, was also wounded in the attack, adding that he was being treated at Hotel Dieu Hospital.
Mustaqbal Movement leader MP Saad Hariri on Sunday said that Zeineddine had "joined the martyrs of freedom and independence."
Hariri urged authorities to bear the responsibility of pursuing the assailants who "killed Zeineddine and who attacked peaceful convoys of Lebanese citizens".
Hundreds of thousands of people joined Saturday”s Beirut rally on the fourth anniversary of the killing, ahead of June elections pitting the parliamentary majority headed by Hariri”s son and political heir, Saad, against a Hizbullah-led alliance backed by Syria and Iran.
News reports on Sunday said the clashes pitted supporters of the majority against partisans of the Hizbullah-led coaliation in several Beirut neighborhoods both before and after Saturday”s rally.