Lebanese scuffle with Syrians voting abroad in support of Assad
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[May 20, 2021]
BEIRUT (Reuters) - Scuffles erupted
on Thursday between Lebanese and Syrians, who were on their way to cast
votes at their embassy in Lebanon in favour of Syrian President Bashar
al-Assad, as polling abroad began before next week's presidential
election.
The voters were driving in a convoy of cars and buses, waving Syrian
flags and blasting pro-Assad songs on speakers, heading to the embassy
on the outskirts of Beirut, when a group of Lebanese attacked their
vehicles, witnesses said.
The Lebanese smashed windows and burned their flags, snarling up traffic
on the thoroughfare, the witnesses said.
Lebanon's relations with neighbouring Syria have often be fraught in the
past. Syrian forces were deployed to Lebanon in the 1975-1990 Lebanese
civil war, ending their 29-year presence in 2005. Lebanon now hosts 1
million refugees from Syria's own civil conflict.
"They can go and vote and leave but carrying the Syrian flag here,
that's not right," said one Lebanese protestor who asked not to be
named. "This is provocation," he said.
Syrians abroad vote on Thursday before the May 26 election inside Syria,
a vote Assad is all but certain to win.
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Pictures of Syrian President Bashar al Assad are seen on a bus in
Beirut, Lebanon May 20, 2021. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
Assad, who took power in 2000 on the death of his
father who had ruled for 30 years, has regained control of most of
Syria after 10 years of fighting that has devastated the country.
Syria's government says the election shows the country is
functioning normally despite the war. The opposition and Western
nations view it as a farce to rubber-stamp Assad's grip on power.
(Reporting by Imad Creidi; Writing by Maha El Dahan; Editing by
Edmund Blair)
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