Amal and Hezbollah supporters during a moped parade on May 15, 2022. (Credit: Ibrahim Amro/AFP)
BEIRUT — The Lebanese Army announced Thursday that it had arrested three men, two Lebanese citizens and an Algerian national, in the southern suburbs of Beirut who are suspected of participating in a parade on mopeds in this district and for having "sung sectarian slogans.”
Here’s what we know:
• In a tweet, the Lebanese Army said the Algerian suspect is also accused of having fired in the air during these parades on 16 and 17 May. They also said he is accused of having consumed drugs, selling weapons and participated in the Oct. 14, 2022 Tayyouneh clashes, in which supporters of Hezbollah and the Amal Movement clashed with residents in the neighborhood, considered a stronghold of the Lebanese Forces. Heavy weapons were seized in the possession of two of these detainees, the army added.
• On Tuesday, the Amal movement and Hezbollah had asked their supporters to stop organizing motorized convoys throughout the country in order to avoid "disrupting the success mood of the elections by means of scenes which could be considered as provocations" by the other parties.