BEIRUT: The Internal Security Forces announced that Tripoli’s roads were closed again Thursday, after protests the day before, which have prompted a meeting of the National Islamic Gathering.
A Twitter post by the ISF stated that the Abu Ali roundabout was closed in all directions, as well as the coastal road, the Nasseri Mosque Street in Bab al-Tabbaneh and the entrance to Syria Street.
Separately, the National News Agency reported that the National Islamic Gathering would meet at 1:30 p.m. Thursday in MP Mohammad Kabbara’s residence to discuss the protests in Tripoli that erupted Wednesday.
The National Islamic Gathering is comprised of a diverse group of followers, including March 14 supporters and Future Movement MPs Mohammad Kabbara and Khaled Daher, as well as independent Islamist figures such as Kanaan Naji and Sheikh Raed Kabbara. The group also draws supporters from the Bab al-Tabbaneh neighborhood.
Tripoli residents blocked several roads in north Lebanon Wednesday after news emerged that the health of a militia leader in prison had deteriorated.
Ziad Allouki, a former militia commander in the Tripoli neighborhood of Bab al-Tabbaneh, was taken from Roumieh prison to Hayat Hospital overnight Wednesday after suffering fatigue.
The militiaman, who is on a hunger strike, was returned to prison Wednesday morning after receiving medical care.
A crowd of about 300 women and 200 men blocked the Abu Ali roundabout early Wednesday morning to demand Allouki's release. By midday, they had set up two tents in the middle of the highway.
Protests also broke out in Bab al-Tabbaneh, Qibbeh, Maaloula and the old vegetable market, after Allouki's family received a phone call from a Roumieh prisoner informing them that their son had been rushed to the hospital after suffering a heart attack at dawn.
A source close to the family told The Daily Star that Allouki’s parents had been notified of their son’s sudden health deterioration through Saad Masri, another militia commander who had fought gunbattles in Tripoli and is held at Roumieh prison.
The protesters are demanding the release of all militia leaders who had turned themselves in to the Lebanese Army with promises they would be released before the holy month of Ramadan.
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