Activists rally at Justice Palace as army deploys between Shiyyah, Ain el-Remmaneh

The army closed the entrances of the Shiyyah and Ain el-Remmaneh neighborhoods and took strict security measures in the area on Saturday following calls for rival rallies related to the Beirut port blast case.

“The aim of the measures in the vicinity of Tayyouneh is to stress that security is a red line and not to sow panic among the people,” security sources told al-Jadeed TV.

The Shiyyah, Ain el-Remmaneh and Tayyouneh areas had witnessed deadly armed clashes last year during a rally demanding the removal of Beirut port blast investigator Judge Tarek Bitar.

A few activists meanwhile staged a symbolic sit-in outside the nearby Justice Palace to demand the sacking of State Prosecutor Judge Ghassan Oueidat following his latest controversial measures in the port case, the National News Agency said.

During the small sit-in, nine women carried banners demanding an end to political interference in the judiciary, the sacking of Oueidat, the signing of the judicial appointments decree and the amendment of the legal articles that are obstructing the probe.

The main grouping of the families of the Beirut port blast victims meanwhile distanced itself from the demos and warned that the calls for rival rallies are “aimed, among other things, at causing violence and bloodshed on the streets.”