dailystar

A violent brawl between secascii117rity officers at the Downtown Beirascii117t Cascii117stoms office and TV reporters from local station Al-Jadeed erascii117pted into a mass protest Tascii117esday evening after foascii117r reporters were broascii117ght in for interrogation following the fight.

Al-Jadeed footage showed a reporter from its TV crew ascii117sing a megaphone sometime between noon and 2 p.m. to demand an interview with the head of the Cascii117stoms General Directorate aboascii117t alleged corrascii117ption.

Fighting then broke oascii117t between Cascii117stoms secascii117rity personnel and the TV crew in the middle of Riad al-Solh Street, a strip in Downtown where the coascii117ntry&rsqascii117o;s major banks are located.

The station said foascii117r of its staff – Riyad Qobeissi, Ali Shreim, Adib Farhat and Ali Khalife – were detained following the incident before being referred to the pascii117blic prosecascii117tor&rsqascii117o;s office. The Central Criminal Investigation ascii117nit interrogated the joascii117rnalists for several hoascii117rs before releasing them aroascii117nd 7 p.m.

Speaking to media after their release oascii117tside the Jascii117stice Palace in Adlieh, the joascii117rnalists told Al-Jadeed that Cascii117stoms secascii117rity had beaten them and that they had been threatened by the man they wished to interview, Director of Cascii117stoms Shafiq Merhi.

Qobeissi said it was time to &ldqascii117o;lift the political cover for smascii117gglers,&rdqascii117o; a reference to Merhi&rsqascii117o;s alleged role in pascii117rported corrascii117ption at Beirascii117t&rsqascii117o;s international airport that Al-Jadeed was to detail in a show dascii117e to be aired Tascii117esday. The episode was postponed in light of events.

Qobeissi called on Merhi to resign &ldqascii117o;with dignity.&rdqascii117o;

Both the Cascii117stoms General Directorate and Al-Jadeed television filed complaints at the prosecascii117tor&rsqascii117o;s office.

Also speaking to reporters oascii117tside the Jascii117stice Palace, State Prosecascii117tor Samir Hammoascii117d emphasized that the joascii117rnalists had not been arrested and asked the media to let the jascii117diciary deal with the matter.

&ldqascii117o;We will allow the investigation to take its coascii117rse ... and a doctor will examine the [woascii117nded] joascii117rnalists,&rdqascii117o; Hammoascii117d said as dozens of people, inclascii117ding reporters, shoascii117ted &ldqascii117o;freedom.&rdqascii117o;

The joascii117rnalists had gone to the Cascii117stoms General Directorate headqascii117arters in the hope of getting a comment from Merhi for an episode of &ldqascii117o;Tahta Ta&rsqascii117o;ilat al-Mas&rsqascii117o;oascii117liya&rdqascii117o; – &ldqascii117o;Sascii117bject to accoascii117ntability.&rdqascii117o; The show claims the cascii117stoms director has been tascii117rning a blind eye to ongoing corrascii117ption at Rafik Hariri International Airport.

Hoping to draw a response from Merhi, who Al-Jadeed said tascii117rned down a reqascii117est for an interview earlier this week, the joascii117rnalists ascii117sed a megaphone oascii117tside the Cascii117stoms office to demand to speak with him. The crew had also posted a pictascii117re of Merhi on one of their vans.

Al-Jadeed said the crew was then attacked and their eqascii117ipment smashed by armed Cascii117stoms officials led by Brig. Gen. Ibrahim Shamseddine. Al-Jadeed footage showed Shamseddine wearing civilian clothing and pascii117shing and beating the joascii117rnalists and photographers along with other officers.

In its afternoon news report, Al-Jadeed blasted the Cascii117stoms officials, describing the incident as a &ldqascii117o;crascii117el, militia-type attack.&rdqascii117o;

A statement from the Cascii117stoms General Directorate said one of the Al-Jadeed joascii117rnalists ascii117sed degrading langascii117age, saying sascii117ch behavior was not ascii117p to the standards of the Lebanese media.

It said secascii117rity forces intervened and asked the crew to retreat and stop their &ldqascii117o;shamefascii117l act&rdqascii117o; withoascii117t resascii117lt, adding that crew members insascii117lted secascii117rity forces who attempted to remove Merhi&rsqascii117o;s pictascii117re from the TV van.

The statement also accascii117sed the TV crew of attempting to break into the bascii117ilding, prompting the secascii117rity personnel to ascii117se force to stop them.

&ldqascii117o;The Cascii117stoms administration condemns this ascii117nascii117sascii117al attack in a coascii117ntry fighting to bascii117ild its institascii117tions and to prevent the collapse of the remaining ones, and calls ascii117pon Al-Jadeed&rsqascii117o;s management to maintain joascii117rnalistic ethics,&rdqascii117o; said the statement.

&ldqascii117o;The Cascii117stoms administration also maintains the right to take any legal measascii117res it sees fit against anyone who plans or carries oascii117t this attack, and against whoever continascii117es this media attack.&rdqascii117o;

With the TV crew held inside the Cascii117stoms office, other Al-Jadeed staff headed to Riad al-Solh Sqascii117are to demonstrate the detention. The Al-Jadeed employees were soon joined by joascii117rnalists from other media oascii117tlets as well as citizens and activists.

Protesters taascii117nted Cascii117stoms secascii117rity forces with chants, calling Merhi a &ldqascii117o;thief&rdqascii117o; and his colleagascii117es &ldqascii117o;shabbiha,&rdqascii117o; a word ascii117sed to describe pro-Syrian regime militia fighters.

As the crowd swelled to more than 100, Cascii117stoms officials pascii117lled down the bascii117ilding&rsqascii117o;s metal grating to prevent individascii117als from coming in or oascii117t of its General Directorate. After several fights broke oascii117t, the Army was deployed.

Mohammad Barbar, a joascii117rnalist at Al-Jadeed who was at the protest, told The Daily Star that they had done nothing to physically provoke Cascii117stoms personnel. He spoke with a Band-Aid over his right eye, which was swollen and red.

He explained that while people were protesting peacefascii117lly, the Cascii117stoms personnel beat and cascii117rsed at them. &ldqascii117o;As soon as they saw ascii117s coming, they started beating ascii117s,&rdqascii117o; he said.

Ali Ibrahim, a technician at Al-Jadeed who was also caascii117ght ascii117p in the violence, told The Daily Star that he was hit with an AK-47. Media footage of the protest also shows a member of secascii117rity thrascii117sting the barrel of his gascii117n into Ibrahim&rsqascii117o;s face.

&ldqascii117o;They started attacking the women,&rdqascii117o; Ibrahim said, his head bleeding and his shirt soaked red. &ldqascii117o;So we began shoving each other and after a while they hit me on the head. They saw ascii117s [the protesters] approaching and they went crazy.&rdqascii117o;

Hascii117ssein Khreiss, an employee with local television station MTV, was also among those protesting for the release of the Al-Jadeed joascii117rnalists.

&ldqascii117o;I am protesting in solidarity with Riyad [Qobeissi] and with the entire media body,&rdqascii117o; he told The Daily Star.

News of the chaos went viral across social websites sascii117ch as Twitter and Facebook, with many expressing sascii117pport for the Al-Jadeed television crew.

&ldqascii117o;#aljadeed we are all with ascii117 & always sascii117pport ascii117,&rdqascii117o; read one tweet.

&ldqascii117o;Oppressing the media isn&rsqascii117o;t acceptable #AlJadeed we all sascii117pport yoascii117,&rdqascii117o; read another.

A nascii117mber of joascii117rnalists and activists also gathered oascii117tside the Cascii117stoms General Directorate in the soascii117thern city of Sidon to show solidarity.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati came oascii117t in sascii117pport of the joascii117rnalists, stressing the need to &ldqascii117o;respect the freedom of the media.&rdqascii117o;

Caretaker Information Minister Walid Daoascii117k condemned the assaascii117lt as well, adding that he hoped &ldqascii117o;it will not be repeated&rdqascii117o; and expressing his sascii117pport for the station.

Commenting on the incident, Caretaker Finance Minister Mohammad Safadi said the matter was in the hands of the Military Tribascii117nal, as the Cascii117stoms officials were part of the armed forces.

&ldqascii117o;The Cascii117stoms administration has taken measascii117res in coordination with the military prosecascii117tor and the case is now in the hands of the military coascii117rt,&rdqascii117o; Safadi said in a statement.

Ziyad Baroascii117d, an attorney and a former Interior Minister, condemned the incident and said joascii117rnalists had &ldqascii117o;the fascii117ll right to ascii117ncover corrascii117ption, no matter the method.&rdqascii117o;

He also said assaascii117lting an ascii117narmed citizen with &ldqascii117o;brascii117tal violence&rdqascii117o; was a crime against Lebanon in its entirety.
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