FPM supporters protesting in front of EU's embassy building in downtown Beirut, July 18, 2023. (Credit: Mohammad Yassin/L'Orient-Le Jour)
BEIRUT — Over 100 Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) supporters protested on Tuesday in front of the European Union Delegation to Lebanon's office in downtown Beirut. The subject of the protest was an EU resolution defending the continued presence of Syrian refugees in Lebanon, on grounds that conditions in Syria do not guarantee safe return.
The Lebanon focused EU resolution addressed various issues, including the political deadlock and the 2020 Beirut port blast. Article 13 of the resolution, which refers to the presence of Syrian refugees in the country, has triggered controversy.
While the text does not explicitly call for Syrian refugees to remain in Lebanon, it states that "the conditions required for a voluntary and dignified return of refugees are not present."
This reflects the position the international community and rights groups have taken over the years, as many returnees to Syria still face mandatory military conscription and experience homelessness, detainment and forced disappearance upon reentering Syria.
The EU text also calls on Lebanon "to refrain from expelling, imposing discriminatory measures and inciting hatred against Syrian refugees."
"We are here today in front of the EU building as FPM to state that the naturalization [of Syrian refugees] and the division of the country is rejected," FPM supporter Tony Mkarzel told L'Orient-Le Jour during the protest. "This country is ours and is not a country for refugees or migration," Mokarzel added.
FPM MP Salim Aoun participates in a protest against an EU resolution on Syrian refugees in Lebanon, July 18, 2023. (Credit: Mohammad Yassin/L'Orient-Le Jour)
"We are not here against the Syrians, we are here to protest the EU decision to keep the Syrians here. We don't have a problem with Syrians but Syrian refugees that are a burden on us. We cannot bare any more a huge number of people that can go back to their own country. We don't have any problem with any Syrian working legally to sustain a living, our problem is with those taking our jobs without legal papers and are not under the law," Charbel Abou Antoun, another FPM supporter, told L'Orient-Le Jour.
The Lebanese Government estimates that the country currently hosts around 1.5 million refugees from Syria, including 815,000 registered with UNHCR.
Several Lebanese politicians criticized Article 13, which they believe encourages Syrian refugees to remain in Lebanon.
Reporting contributed by Mohamad Yassin