Civil Activist al-Hashash Arrested after Asharq al-Awsat Incident

The Internal Security Forces arrested on Saturday civil society activist Pierre al-Hashash against the backdrop of storming the offices of Saudi daily Asharq al-Awsat a day earlier, the state-run National News Agency reported.

Hashash was arrested in the northern city of Batroun based on a judicial order.

A group of young men on Friday stormed the Beirut offices of the newspaper in protest at a cartoon deemed insulting to Lebanon.

A video posted on social media showed the protesters arguing with Lebanese employees and asking them to stage a strike to condemn the published cartoon.

Some of the protesters then move to the office's desks and start pushing stacks of newspapers to the ground, unfazed by the employees' appeals.

The protesters were led by well-known social media activists al-Hashash and Abbas Zahri. Hashash posted a video of the incident on his Facebook page.

According to the video and state-run National News Agency, the protesters also included civil society activists Hassan Qteish, Bilal Allaw, Mohammed Hirz and a man from the Zeineddine family who is a cameraman at al-Jadeed TV.

Security forces arrived at the scene later and listened to the testimonies of three employees.

Detectives took pictures of the storming's aftermath and Beirut's public prosecution office was informed of the details.

The cartoon published Friday by Asharq al-Awsat shows Lebanon's flag and the words “The Lebanese State: An April Fools' Lie.”

In a statement, the newspaper condemned the incident as a “barbaric attack,” holding Lebanese authorities responsible for the safety of its employees.

Later on Friday, NNA said Beirut's public prosecution office has launched a probe into the incident and that it intends to summon the individuals who stormed the offices.