BEIRUT: Beirut MPs held the Cabinet responsible Monday for recent security incidents in the capital and announced plans to send delegations to visit President Michel Sleiman, Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister Najib Mikati in a bid to achieve an arms-free Greater Beirut.

“We hold the Cabinet responsible for this continuous off-and-on chaos, as if there is someone who intends to consecrate the authority of those who hold arms against neighborhoods and people,” the lawmakers said in a statement they issued following a meeting held at Parliament to discuss means to establish an arms-free capital.

“Beirut MPs have decided to form delegations to visit the three top officials, which will be the start of continuous action in order to reach a de-militarized Greater Beirut,” added the statement, which was presented by March 14 Beirut MPs.

Two men were wounded last week when a dispute over a parking lot developed into a gunfight in the west Beirut neighborhood of Zaydaniyeh. Following the clash, local gunmen were deployed in the area.

The incident came shortly after an armed clash reportedly broke out in the Beirut neighborhood of Burj Abi Haidar, though it was denied by the Lebanese Army.

“The armed clashes that broke out in several areas in Beirut in recent days, the last of which took place in Zaydaniyeh, and which some like to call a ‘security incident,’ cannot be viewed as a passing issue,” said the statement. “And [Beirut] residents who are threatened by the shells of clashes between armed gangs in the streets and whose families’ safety and property are jeopardized cannot ignore this matter.”

The lawmakers said that civil peace should first be established in Beirut, adding that security incidents could spread to all Lebanese districts if the situation continues as such and “if solutions continue to be based on brokering agreements [between armed groups and the state rather than imposing the state’s authority].”

“The issue is no more in need of description or condemnation only, but requires a bold decision by all political factions and security bodies to lift protection over perpetrators, whoever they are, and hand them over to Lebanese judiciary to be punished and be an example for all who ... terrorize residents of the capital,” said the statement.

Future MPs began campaigning for a “de-militarized” Beirut last year following an armed clash between Hezbollah and gunmen from the Association of the Islamic Charitable Projects which killed three in Burj Abi Haidar.