Protesters gather on the highway outside Jbeil on Monday April 8, 2024. (Credit: Stephanie Bechara/L'Orient Today)
JBEIL — Angry residents blocked roads and store owners kept their businesses shuttered on Monday in Jbeil, a day after local Lebanese Forces (LF) coordinator Pascal Sleiman was allegedly kidnapped in broad daylight for unknown reasons.
Hundreds of people gathered to block the main roads in protest of the alleged kidnapping, demanding the safe return of the LF official. Sleiman, who had been visiting the nearby town of Kharbe on Sunday afternoon, was forced off the road on his way back home, according to Charbel Abi Akl, a former LF official from Jbeil.
? [#Vidéo] L'autoroute de #Jbeil a été coupée dans les deux sens lundi par des sympathisants des FL pour protester contre l'enlèvement de Pascal Sleiman.
— L'Orient-Le Jour (@LOrientLeJour) April 8, 2024
?️ @StephBechara pic.twitter.com/BXm9FsKFZ4
It was not immediately clear who Sleiman’s alleged kidnappers were or why they targeted him. His secretary, Marie-Claude Salloum, told L’Orient Today she last spoke with him on Friday and had no further details.
An Internal Security Forces (ISF) source did not immediately respond to L’Orient Today’s request for comment.
The protest on Monday follows an impromptu gathering on Sunday night at Jbeil’s LF headquarters, where longtime LF leader Samir Geagea made a rare visit away from his home base of Maarab, met with cheers from the crowd.
Imad George Harb, head of the LF headquarters in Jbeil, told L’Orient Today at Monday’s protest that around 90 percent of shops were closed for the day in solidarity with Sleiman.
? [#Video] Hundreds of people on the ground blocking the highway roads in #Jbeil this morning in protest against the kidnapping of Lebanese Forces executive
— L'Orient Today (@lorienttoday) April 8, 2024
More details here ? https://t.co/OiDLcOSdJy pic.twitter.com/1TRF5OzfKW
Restaurants were also set to remain closed until 3 p.m., according to Marc Abboud, a local restaurant owner and Jbeil coordinator for Lebanon’s restaurant owners syndicate.
“Should Sleiman not have returned by tonight, we will take it day by day and reconvene with the head of the syndicate, Tony Ramy, to discuss the best way forward,” Abboud added.
Other business owners said they made similar decisions.
“I closed my shop today in solidarity with the recent event, and many like me are demanding the release of Sleiman,” said André Ghassan Nasr, owner of a motorcycle shop in Jbeil who took part in the protest.
The owner of a contracting company, who spoke to L’Orient Today on condition of anonymity, also said that he closed his business and told workers not to come today. “We are ready to keep our doors closed until we know the whereabouts of Pascal Sleiman.”
Jean Saad, a local fisherman at the protest, said he is“willing to miss as many work days as needed” to stay in the streets “until we learn the truth about what happened.”
“We are staying on the ground until Sleiman is back home safe,” said Jbeil MP Ziad Hawat (Lebanese Forces).
Protesters said they would “escalate” if Sleiman remained missing.