Al-Baba Sweets staff protest al-Asir’s Sidon sit-in

Al-Baba Sweets workers held on Wednesday a sit-in near the protest site of Salafist cleric Sheikh Ahmed al-Asir in the southern city of Sidon to ask the clergyman to open the road for traffic. Some 250 employees marched towards the area of the sit-in at the northern entrance of Sidon after the protest launched by al-Asir affected their work and reduced the number of their customers. The protestors raised banners saying “We want to eat … We want to live” and "Release us from captivity." They asked for a meeting with al-Asir who sent Sheikh Ahmed Hariri to talk to them instead. But they insisted on meeting him personally to inform him that his actions have paralyzed the city. The Salafist cleric launched his open-ended sit-in last week to protest non-state arms, including Hizbullah's arsenal. He has threatened an escalation if the arms issue is not tackled by Lebanese authorities.