BEIRUT: Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) leader Walid Jumblatt warned Wednesday against turning the streets of the Lebanese capital into what he called “security zones.”

“Turning some streets or neighborhoods in Beirut into security zones does not help anyone,” Jumblatt said in a statement issued on the PSP website.

“The capital [Beirut] is a city for all Lebanese and is home for all political affiliations and intellectual diversity,” he added.

“Regardless of slogans and cries, it is necessary to keep the right to peaceful protest within the legal norms,” Jumblatt said.

A series of clashes in Lebanon between supporters of Syrian President Bashar and protesters against the Arab leader and in support of the Syrian people have taken place in the Lebanese capital, the most recent having taken place outside the Syrian Embassy in Hamra Tuesday.

A security source told The Daily Star that five people were slightly injured when pro-Syrian regime supporters, mostly members of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party, chased two cars belonging to anti-regime demonstrators to Hamra Street’s Khaled Alwan Square, beating their opponents with sticks and belts.

Human rights groups say unrest in Syria has claimed the lives of 1,600 people.