Mideast: Lebanese mob attacks cleric’s office, burns Christmas tree over divisive video

A mob in Lebanon attacked the office of a Sunni Muslim religious leader in the northern city of Tripoli, smashing in windows early today, reports say.

The military says a mob of men on motorcycles gathered outside the home of Sunni Mufti Sheik Malek al-Shaar and rioted, “used profanity” and smashed property.

The mob then moved to the square and threw fire bombs at the Christmas tree, setting it on fire.

The military says it arrested four men and confiscated their motorcycles.

The violence indicates that the tensions that recently gripped the Lebanese capital, Beirut, over an online video deemed offensive to the country’s Shiites are spreading to Tripoli, the country’s second-largest city.

On Tuesday, anger boiled over in Beirut after the offensive video was widely circulated online, showing a Sunni resident of Tripoli railing against the leaders of the country’s two main Shiite groups, Hezbollah and Amal, and religious Shiite figures and using expletives.

The daily An-Nahar says the assailants in Tripoli were angered because the Sunni mufti, al-Shaar, had called the powerful Shiite parliament speaker and head of Amal, Nabih Berri, to apologize for the video.

— AP