The Free Patriotic Movement-led Strong Lebanon bloc on Tuesday described the road-blocking protests engulfing Lebanon as a “coup” against President Michel Aoun’s “reformist project.”
“The past days have witnessed exploitation of people’s pain for political motives, and the practices and slogans reflect a coup-like situation against the president, his position and what he represents as well as against the bloc that has been struggling alongside him,” the bloc said in a statement issued after its weekly e-meeting.
“It is a premeditated coup aimed at undermining President Aoun’s reformist project and impeding accountability, topped by the forensic audit, which has the ability to unveil the facts,” the bloc added.
Also commenting on the protests, Strong Lebanon said it categorically rejects that “a small group of rioters control the right to movement of millions of Lebanese,” warning of “any act of sabotage to undermine security that some might seek in order to compensate for the failure of the ongoing coup attempt.”
The bloc also stressed that “any thinking by any party of toppling the president” would be an “illusion which we advise that they quit.”