Authorities
lowered the boom on Gen. Michel Aoun's supporters and
Samir Geagea's Lebanese Forces activists Tuesday, charging
they used the climate of freedom in Lebanon to stage
disorders and abuse President Lahoud's regime.
The two opposition groups said many of their young men
and women were either arrested or summoned to interrogation
by army and police intelligence services without legal
grounds.
More
than 15 Aounists were arrested before noon Tuesday
in Beirut's Dora neighbourhood as they were distributing
the weekly newsletter of Gen. Aoun, which harshly
criticized the president, sources said.
Four
other Aounists were detained on the same grounds on
Sunday and were turned over to the judicial military
authorities for legal interrogation.
The
LF said dozens of its activists were summoned for
interrogation and an undetermined number of them had
been detained in connection with the demonstrations
staged during the patriarch's tour of the Chouf region
over the weekend.
There
were instances of friction between the LF activities
and the security forces during the patriarch's visit.
An LF delegation traveled to the patriarch's summer
residence in Diman to seek his good offices to free
the detainees.
The
arrests were made in the Chouf region southeast of
Beirut as wells as Byblos, Batroun and Koura north
of the Lebanese capital.
A
communique from the Lebanese army command said, "Lebanese
elements in the interior have used the climate of
freedom to abuse the highest authorities in a way
that contrasts the ethics of political conduct."
"This
conduct occurs at a time when Palestinians are suffering
enormously at the hands of the Israelis," the
communique said. "The army command is taking
all the necessary legal proceedings to correct the
situation."
LF
activists and the Aounists have flexed their muscle
during the patriarch's tour of the Chouf, turning
out en masse in banner-wielding demonstrations to
greet the Maronite pontiff and shout slogans against
the Lahoud regime.
