BEIRUT: Grand Mufti Sheikh Mohammad Rashid Qabbani reiterated Monday that he would not allow the toppling of the Cabinet of Prime Minister Najib Mikati under street pressure.

“When we said that we will not allow toppling the Cabinet under street pressure, we were not taking sides at all,” Qabbani told reporters after visiting Mikati at the latter’s residence in Verdun.

“When then Prime Minister Fouad Siniora was in the Grand Serail, and it was surrounded, we also said will not allow toppling the Cabinet under street pressure,” Qabbani said in reference to an 18-month-sit-in started by the March 8 coalition in December 2006 to pressure Siniora to resign.

“We are in a civilized country and we should not resort to these methods, the Constitution stipulates how a Cabinet falls,” he said. The March 14 coalition began a sit-in last month near the Grand Serail to pressure Mikati to resign.

Qabbani said he extended his greetings to Mikati for performing pilgrimage and discussed with him the situation of Muslims, Lebanon and the region.