- Title: Lebanese protesters criticise Nasrallah's speech as supporters rally
- Date: 25th October 2019
- Summary: BEIRUT, LEBANON (OCTOBER 25, 2019) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS GATHERED IN FRONT OF GOVERNMENT HEADQUARTERS, WAVING LEBANESE FLAGS AND MAKING PEACE SYMBOL (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) POLITICAL ACTIVIST, GILBERT DOUMIT, SAYING: "The Sayyed's (referring to Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah) speech shows that there is fear from the streets, because all of the streets, including in his own surroundings, are letting go of their politicians. He's trying to recall people using fear and intimidation, and by his supporters coming down to the streets so the protesters fear them, as if we could go to a political vacuum or the country will collapse, this is all not true. We are staying in the squares until we take our rights and this government falls."
- Embargoed: 8th November 2019 18:39
- Keywords: revolution Nasrallah chaos rally Hezbollah civil unrest protesters lebanon supporters
- Location: BEIRUT AND KFARKILA, LEBANON
- City: BEIRUT AND KFARKILA, LEBANON
- Country: Lebanon
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace
- Reuters ID: LVA001B2LJQYV
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Several protesters in Beirut disregarded a speech by Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah warning of a power vacuum that could tip the country into civil war, while supporters of the movement gathered in the south of the country on Friday (October 25).
Nasrallah, whose Hezbollah group is part of Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri's coalition government, urged his followers to stay away from the protests after they clashed with demonstrators in Beirut.
Demonstrators in Beirut dismissed the move from Nasrallah, with one saying the Hezbollah leader was trying to get protesters off the streets by instilling fear.
Supporters of Hezbollah gathered in the south of the country to stage a rally on wheels, waving flags from their vehicles in large convoys.
The heavily armed Shi'ite group is widely seen as the most powerful player in Lebanon and is part of an Iranian-led regional alliance that is in conflict with U.S.-allied Gulf Arab states that have political allies in the country.
Lebanon has been swept by more than a week of nationwide protests against a political elite accused of corruption, mismanagement of the state finances and leading the country toward an economic collapse unseen since the 1975-90 civil war.
(Production: Karamallah Daher, Issam Abdallah, Imad Creidi, Aiden Nulty) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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