LEBANON BEIRUT COMPUTERS DESTROYED AND/OR STOLEN The Daily Star - Politics - Army arrests suspect accused of instigating clashesMonday, May 31, 2004


BEIRUT: The Lebanese Army Intelligence Directorate arrested over the weekend a suspect accused of being among those who initiated the clashes between protestors and the army in the Hay al-Sellom neighborhood last Thursday.

A statement released by the army Saturday said Lebanese Mohammed Hassan Youssef confessed to throwing a hand grenade at an army unit on the road to Beirut International Airport. The suspect was referred to the concerned judiciary.

Meanwhile, the Administrative Development Ministry said the damage inflicted on a project to computerize work permits at the Labor Ministry reached about $100,000.

But the information system and measures adopted in cooperation with the Labor Ministry proved its efficiency in protecting paperwork that was computerized despite damages.

On Saturday, the information projects director at the ministry, Abdo Shalhoub, submitted to Pakradouni a report estimating the damages to the projects.

The report said the computer network for work permits located in the building's first floor were completely burned down.

Twenty-two computer sets, 10 printers 18 scanners, 22 UPSs and eight systems regulating the reception of clients were either destroyed or stolen. The ministry reassured citizens that the data was safeguarded despite the incident.

Both ministries were examining necessary measures to insure the flow of work for the reception of further paperwork with the same electronic means as soon as the Labor Ministry resumes work, the statement said.

Minister of State for Administrative Development Karim Pakradouni toured in the Labor Ministry on Friday to inspect damages to projects that were started by his ministry over two years ago with the funding of the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development and the European Union. On Sunday, Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Butros Sfeir said that if the government had given the working class' demands enough attention, last week's clashes between the army and rioters would not have occurred.

Sfeir said he regretted the incident, adding that "the demonstration has turned from a movement to call for workers' demands to an aspect of a political issue very far from workers' demands."

He asked officials to take the necessary measures to find solutions to the social problems and "avoid unbearable ordeals and return the situation to normal."

Marjayoun-Hasbaya MP Anwar Khalil denounced Thursday's clashes in Beirut's suburbs, and expressed his support for citizens and their rights.

Khalil made the comment Sunday in a news conference at his home in Hasbaya which was attended by mayors, mukhtars and popular delegations who came from across the town.

Khalil expressed the people's discontent with continued government oppression, stressing that people can no longer bear the state's flagrant neglect, increasing taxes and fees.

The MP condemned aggressions against the Lebanese Army and urged the judiciary to investigate suspects holding suspicious relations with certain embassies in the country.

He said such suspects could have been coordinating with the embassies to plan vandalism.

Minister of State Talal Arslan called for a swift and efficient reconsideration of the economic method that drove the country to rock bottom.

Arslan stressed the importance of a legal and economic investigation that would take into account officials responsible for the impoverishment of the people and set radical and swift solutions to national economy.

In a Sunday meeting with visiting delegations from areas in Baabda, Aley and the Metn, the minister said he repeatedly cautioned against the dangers of neglecting hunger and soaring debt, but was accused in turn of trying to win the people's sympathy and consolidating his political position.

He called on officials to remove their hands off the union movement which split due bickering and sectarianism.

Arslan conveyed condolences to the families of victims who fell during Thursday's clashes, denouncing the government's unadaptable socioeconomic method which is supposedly set to serve the people.

The security situation had stabilized in the area Friday, ending the clashes between the Lebanese Army and rioters taking part in a demonstration organized by the General Labor Confederation against exacerbating gasoline prices.