By Joseph A. Kechichian, Senior Writer

Beirut: Lebanon is witnessing the return of fresh political protests as unresolved political issues resurface. The
pro-Syrian Free Patriotic Movement Party has pledged fresh
demonstrations in the coming weeks to voice their anger over perceived
slights in the Cabinet and National Dialogue sessions.

FPM leader
Jibran Bassil, who also serves as Lebanon’s foreign minister, says the
National Charter, which guarantees equal power sharing between Muslims
and Christians, is not being applied properly. In a recent speech,
Bassil warned that “if they [meaning the Future Movement and most Sunni
deputies] do not elect Michel Aoun as president during [the next
scheduled parliamentary election session] on [September] 28, then we
will commence a series of escalatory measures. We will go down to the
streets and we will not leave until we achieve our objectives”, he
affirmed.

According to spokesman Habib Younus, the FPM planned to
demonstrate in front of “all the ministries and public institutions, not
to cripple them and cause people discomfort, but to show our numbers
and our strengths”.

On their part, the anti-Syrian Lebanese Forces (LF) staged a sit-in
on Thursday demanding the formal extradition of two Syrian officers
indicted in the deadly 2013 blasts on two mosques in the northern city
of Tripoli.

A week after Judge Ala’a Al Khatib indicted two Syrian
officers, Mohammad Ali Ali and Nasser Juban, no formal request was made
to Damascus to extradite the two men. Students demanded that Prime
Minister Tammam Salam and his Cabinet make such a request as a sign of
respect for the law.

“The regime that assassinated [LF founder and
president-elect] Bashir [Gemayel in 1982] is the same regime that
kidnapped Butros Khawand [in 1992] and blew up the Our Lady of Salvation
Church [in 1994] and the two Tripoli mosques,” affirmed Jad Dimyan, the
head of the LF student department.

Time was long overdue, he concluded, to back the judiciary “if the law is to have any meaning”.

Concern
with the law was also on the minds of activists from the ‘We Want
Accountability’ civil society campaign, who first confronted authorities
after parliament extended its term of office on November 5, 2014,
although the straw that broke the proverbial camel’s back may be traced
back to when the elites kicked off the first season of the garbage
scandal on July 17, 2015.

At the time, activists lamented the
state of corruption, clashed with police forces for months on end, and
organised public rallies that brought thousands into the streets. They
breached security barbed wires outside the Serail, which was then
transformed into a war zone, before political parties that got into the
act and added fuel to the fire, pulled their goons out.

On
Thursday, ‘We Want Accountability’ spokesman Wasef Al Harakeh told
reporters that the movement was back and intended “to confront…
corruption”.

“Our confrontation with the ruling class is
open-ended and we want to hold accountable those who are robbing the
state,” he said.

Also, YouStink protesters renewed their protests
over the garbage crisis with temporary fixes seemingly falling short and
piles of uncleared garbage making a return to Lebanese streets.

They
broke through the security barrier at the Grand Serail (Government
House) in downtown Beirut, and warned that they would rekindle their
2015 protests, which saw violent clashes with Lebanese security forces.

The
Phalange party has been organising modest rallies at the Borj Hammoud
dumpster to object to current methods of garbage disposal.