Beirut, Lebanon, November 16, 2011
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“The archbishopric had been sabotaged, destroyed and stolen by unknown vandals,” Father George Dimas told a local radio station Wednesday.
According to the Lebanon Daily Star, priests and staff of the Orthodox archdiocese in Beirut were shocked when they arrived Wednesday morning to find out that the offices had been robbed.
The police are now collecting further evidence from the crime scene that will lead them to the perpetrators.
MP Michel Murr condemned the attack as being an attack against the whole Orthodox community and has called for a sit-in Wednesday inside the church “until the culprits are arrested and brought to justice.”
Murr also called on President Michel Sleiman, PM Najib Mikati and Interior Minister Marwan Charbel, as well as the Lebanese Army and Internal Security Forces to arrest and lead before justice the vandals as well as take the necessary measures to prevent any other similar acts in future.
According to Lebanese Deputy Speaker Farid Makari, the assault was a warning to Greek Orthodox Archbishop Elias Audi “for his patriotic beliefs as he always calls for a sovereign and independent Lebanon.”
