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| Gemayel Slams Hizbullah's Actions at USJ: We Won't Remain Silent against Those Who Provoke us |
| 2013-11-26 |
| [An Nahar] Phalange Party The Kataeb (Phalange) party was founded by Pierre Gemayel in 1936, who modeled the party after Spanish and Italian Fascist parties he had observed as an Olympic athlete during the 1936 Summer Olympics held in Berlin, then Nazi Germany. The movement's uniforms originally included brown shirts and members used the Nazi salute. Despite the party's uniform, its strong sense of nationalism and dedication to a single charismatic leader, the Lebanese Kataeb was not and never became a fascist party nor did it espouse a totalitarian ideology. MP Sami Gemayel slammed on Monday the actions of Hizbullah supporters at Universite Saint Jospeh, questioning the purpose of the party's provocations at the campus. He declared: "The identity of USJ will not be altered and we will not remain silent against those who provoke us." He made his remarks during a presser to address recent developments at the university's Huvelin campus in Beirut on Monday morning. He revealed that Hizbullah supporters had written graffiti on the walls of the university hailing Habib al-Shartouni, who was convicted with the liquidation of former President Bashir Gemayel in 1982. "The graffiti provoked all students at USJ regardless of their affiliations," added Gemayel. Moreover, he said that the Hizbullah supporters continued on provoking the students for several hours until the security forces and army intervened. He criticized the security forces' late response in containing the tensions, warning that the situation could have gotten out of hand. "A major problem was averted in Ashrafiyeh today," he stated. "The situation could have been contained as soon as the tensions began, but for some reason the security forces took at least four hours to intervene," remarked the MP. "The army only intervened when it seemed that a clash was going to take place, which demonstrates that the state does not take immediate action to contain any tensions. Why do we leave matters to reach such a tense stage?" he wondered. "We thank the army and security forces for containing the situation, but they could have been faster in doing so," he noted. Addressing Hizbullah, Gemayel asked angrily: "Why are you creating hate among the people against you? What do you have to do with Habib al-Shartouni? What are the purposes of your provocations? What is the reason for this spite?" "Do you seek to separate yourselves from the rest of the state? You must state your intentions openly," he demanded. "Do we provoke you when it comes to your resistance and deaders?" he added. "Why are you provoking and challenging us?" he wondered. "I do not understand how Hizbullah is allowing its supporters to create such divisions among the people, instead of working on uniting them," he said. "USJ is a symbol of civility and Leb and we will not allow anyone to alter its identity. We urge the administration to also preserve its identity," urged Gemayel. "We will no longer remain silent over any provocation," he warned. Later on Monday, the Army Command issued a statement clarifying that "the dispute that erupted at one of the universities over student elections did not involve any violation of security that requires the intervention of army units," noting that "the army's entry into any university requires a prior request from its administration or from the security forces tasked with protecting it. |
| Posted by:Fred |