Lebanon detains children

BEIRUT: Lebanese security forces briefly arrested five youths, including three minors, for allegedly pulling down a sign for the president’s political party, sparking outrage on Sunday on social media.

Defence lawyers said the five were taken into custody on Saturday evening in the town of Hammana east of Beirut over claims they tore down a sign for President Michel Aoun’s Free Patriotic Movement.

Security forces released them after midnight after taking a statement from them, the Committee of Lawyers for the Defence of Protesters said. The army said two of the children were 15 years old, while the third was 12.

The news sparked indignation on social media, in the latest outcry in a country gripped by spontaneous anti-government protests since October 17. "Down with the regime that arrests children," said one user.

"When a 12-year-old child manages to shake the state’s throne, you know the state is corrupt," another wrote. During the first month of demonstrations, security forces arrested 300 people including 12 minors who were released within the next 24 or 48 hours, according to the lawyers’ committee.