Lebanon detains children for tearing down political banner

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 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 and the third was 12.

The news sparked indignation on social media, 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 following 24 or 48 hours, according to the lawyers' committee.

But 11 people —  including two minors —  remain in detention accused of attacking a hotel in the southern city of Tyre during the first week of the uprising.

After nightfall on Sunday, hundreds gathered in protest centres in Beirut, the northern city of Tripoli and in Tyre.

In Beirut's Martyrs' Square, hundreds of women and men demanded their rights, some waving the national red and white flag or chanting "Revolution, Revolution!"

Lebanon's protests have brought together people of all ages from across the political spectrum, tired of what they describe as sectarian politics three decades after a civil war.

In the latest show of unity, a festive mood had reigned in the afternoon as Lebanese came together in public spaces across the country on the second day of the weekend.

North of the capital women prepared traditional salads to share, while a group of men danced on the beach south of the city, state television footage showed.

The demonstrators managed to bring down the government less than two weeks into the protests, but it remains in a caretaker capacity and no new cabinet has since been formed.

The Free Patriotic Movement Party that Aoun founded is now led by his son-in-law, outgoing foreign minister Gibran Bassil, one of the most reviled figures in the protests.