BEIRUT: The Future Movement-led March 14 coalition lashed out Wednesday at Hezbollah and the Amal Movement for shutting down Lebanon’s second-largest power plant in Zahrani, describing their act as “piracy.”

“Hezbollah’s and Amal Movement’s confiscation of the Zahrani power plant and the piracy that led to its shutdown and the sufferings inflicted on the Lebanese by its closure are a militia-like act,” March 14 said in a statement following its weekly meeting.

The coalition also said they saw behind this act an attempt by Hezbollah and the Amal Movement, headed by Speaker Nabih Berri, to “expand and take over legal institutions and their decision-making.”

It accused Hezbollah and Amal of creating further spheres outside the control of the state, a reference to Beirut’s southern suburbs, which are considered a Hezbollah stronghold, off limits to state authority.

Zahrani Electricite du Liban employees shut down the plant – the country’s second biggest – completely Friday after allegedly receiving threats from residents and municipalities regarding the transport of a transformer from Tyre to Sidon, which Tyre residents claim affected their electricity supply.

It resumed electricity production Sunday after Berri and Prime Minister Najib Mikati intervened to prod southern municipalities into ending the protest.

The majority of the workers who closed the plant were Amal supporters.