TRIPOLI: Hundreds of Lebanese Islamists demonstrated overnight in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli in solidarity with Syrian citizens and the nearly five-month-old uprising.
Some 700 demonstrators representing Hizb ut-Tahrir, Salafists and Jamaa Islamiya took part in the rally following Wednesday’s evening prayers, held during the holy month of Ramadan.
The protesters, demanding Syrian President Bashar Assad to step down, gathered outside a mosque in Abi Samra, one of Tripoli’s most notable neighborhoods.
Brandishing Islamist flags and Hizb ut-Tahrir slogans, the demonstrators rallied across Abi Samra streets under tight Lebanese Army and police security.
"God willing the [Syrian] regime will fall in Ramadan," chanted the protesters, led by party leaders.
The protest coincided with a U.N. Security Council statement in which it condemned Assad's bloody crackdown on demonstrators.
The Security Council called for an end to the violence and for those responsible to be held "accountable".
Lebanon has witnessed several pro- and anti-Assad protests since the uprising began in mid-March. A number of protesters have been injured as few protests turned violent.
Tripoli’s rally passed safely.
Last month, six people were killed in Tripoli in clashes between Sunni and Alawite Muslims, which were triggered by a rally against the Assad regime.
Seven demonstrators were injured when pro-Syrian regime supporters, armed with knives and sticks, attacked them near the Syrian Embassy Tuesday.