Hizb ut-Tahrir Accuses State of Using Intimidation Practices: We Will Stage Demonstrations Every Friday

Hizb ut-Tahrir’s media official, Ahmed Qasas accused Lebanese authorities of intimidation practices “that have turned Tripoli into a military barracks.”

He told the pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat in remarks published on Saturday: “They sought such tactics in order to deter the people from taking part in the demonstration that the party called for on Friday in support of the Syrian protests.”

Despite the pressure and the modest turnout, he described Friday’s rally as a success seeing as they demonstrated peacefully.

Qasas stressed: “Hizb ut-Tahrir will continue on staging demonstrations every Friday in order to keep on voicing our support for the Syrian revolution and all other Arab revolts.”

Fears arouse in Lebanon that violence would break out in the party’s demonstration seeing as other groups sought to stage a pro-Syrian regime rally.

LBC television reported on Friday that a "very modest" number of demonstrators took part in Hizb ut-Tahrir’s rally, noting that a few members of the Salafist movement marched in the event.

They demanded that the government adopt more openness towards such movements.

OTV said that the demonstrators did not exceed 1,000.

Agence France Presse reported that the demonstrators held banners demanding a halt to the "massacres against the Syrian people."

Others tried to chant anti-Syrian regime slogans, but members of Hizb ut-Tahrir stopped them.

Qasas said before the crowd: "We belong to one Islamic ummah and aiding our Syrian brothers is a religious duty."

"A day will come when the Islamic caliphate will be established throughout the Arab and Islamic world," he stressed.

The founder of the Salafist movement in Lebanon, Dai al-Islam al-Shahhal, called for an end to the "massacres being committed against the Syrian people."