BEIRUT: The Future parliamentary bloc approved Wednesday Salafist-inspired MP Khaled Daher’s request to suspend his membership from the bloc after spurring national outrage over remarks that were deemed offensive to Christians.
“The bloc accepts colleague Daher’s request to suspend his membership and would like to seize the opportunity to renew its firm commitment in coexistence,” the Future bloc following their weekly meeting.
Almost simultaneously, black flags with Islamic scripture were replaced Wednesday with white ones in Tripoli’s main Al-Nour Square, after Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk ordered their removal.
Daher told The Daily Star that he “had suspended his membership from the Future Bloc,” denying media reports that claimed he had been booted.
Following his remarks to The Daily Star, Daher issued a statement saying his decision served to curb any “embarrassment” his comments may have caused the Future Bloc.
Daher said the decision to suspend his membership stemmed from his opposition to taking down religious banners from Tripoli’s main square after North Lebanon Governor Ramzi Nohra’s ordered the removal of all political and religious insignia from the northern city.
Daher, who insisted that he meant no offense to Christians, said he has been depicted as “someone who commits aggression against others.”
“When in fact it is our [Islamist] religious symbols that were assaulted, and the apology was supposed to be [directed] at us.”
Daher’s unanticipated move comes days after allies and foes alike called for his ejection from the March 14 bloc following his remarks.
“[The Future bloc] is firmly committed to coexistence and moderation,” the bloc’s statement read. “The bloc opposes extremism and fanaticism and denounces terrorism and terrorist organizations and is determined to defend freedom of expression and practices transparency and accountability vis a vis its national partners.”
At a rally protesting the removal of Islamist banners from Tripoli’s Al-Nour Square Sunday, Daher told his followers Christians should be the first to remove their religious symbols from public spaces. “If they want to remove [religious banners] let them start with the Christ the King statue and posters of [Christian] saints,” Daher said in Tripoli’s main square.
Police last week began removing religious and political signage across other the country in line with an agreement reached during dialogue sessions between the Future Movement and Hezbollah to defuse sectarian tensions in the country.
In Tripoli, two members of the Islamic Tawhid Party installed white flags in Al-Nour Square to replace black ones bearing Islamic scriptures, which are commonly used by the extremist groups ISIS and Al-Qaeda, the latter with which Nusra is linked.
The move came a day after Machnouk vowed to not to allow a single black flag with Islamic scriptures to be raised in Lebanon.
The white flags preserved the scripture, which read, “There is no God but Allah, Mohammad is the Prophet of Allah.”
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