BEIRUT: Future official Mustafa Alloush condemned Monday an attack by teenagers on a bishop in the northern city of Tripoli Sunday, the National News Agency reported.

“The incident is weird and it’s strange to the city which has always endorsed coexistence among all its residents,” said Alloush after visiting the bishop.

Bishop Abdallah Skaf and his son Maximus were attacked by a group of young men outside the church located in the neighborhood of al-Zahriya.

“The attack was a childish individual act, one of the acts that distort the image of the city known for preserving civil peace [between Christians and Muslims],” said Alloush.

Alloush also said the assailants must be punished for tampering with Tripoli’s security and stability.

Sources told The Daily Star Sunday that the young men who took part in the beating were suspected to have been intoxicated.

The sources also said that Skaff wished to downplay the incident so as to avoid inciting strife in the city.