BEIRUT: The ISIS slogans tagged on several church walls in Tripoli throughout the week have been condemned by the justice minister.
Ashraf Rifi joined the Mar Elias church in his condemnation while on a visit Sunday.
“I am here to [express] solidarity with our Christian brethren, and I condemn the slogans written on the Mar Elias church in Tripoli’s Minyeh,” he said.
The epidemic of graffiti threats against Christians hit the Tripoli neighborhood of Minyeh last week.
A message painted on the wall of Mar Elias Church read “the Islamic State will break the cross.”
The graffiti was written in Arabic in black spray paint.
A similar message was also painted on the wall of March Elias church in the Tripoli neighborhood of Mina.
“We came to slaughter you, you worshipers of the cross," the graffiti read.
In response to such acts, Rifi said that “the history of this city is coexistence and this history will continue to be the corner stone of national unity.”
As well as slamming ISIS slogans tagged on church walls in Tripoli, Rifi renewed his stand against the burning of an ISIS flag in Ashrafieh last week, despite coming under heavy criticism for denouncing the act.
“I know that the decision wasn’t a popular one, but it was a national [decision] par excellence, and it preserves coexistence,” he said.
Rifi said that he has appointed judicial units to follow up on both the Tripoli and Ashrafieh cases, saying that the appointed authority would also track down the perpetrators, who still remain at large.
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