MP Kaakour Pledges To Disband Parliamentary Guard After MP Zarazir Incident

Yesterday’s parliamentary session was marked by a raucous as retired army protesters clashed with security forces outside the area. The retired army personnel were making their complaints heard regarding the proposed 2022 budget, which was eventually passed.

Members of parliament who were sympathetic to protester demands and opposed to the budget made their way into the crowd throughout the session. MP Paula Yacoubian bizarrely handed over her necklace to protesters, but it was her colleague Cynthia Zarazir who took the brunt of the damage as she was stuck in between a protester-security pushing match.

# @CynthiaZarazir
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— Darine Dandachly (@darinedandachly) September 26, 2022

In a video of the incident shared on social media, Zarazir is seen getting pushed and shoved between a slew of bodies. The MP for Beirut is seen trying to steady herself while attempting to talk to protesters and security forces around her.

In an interview given to LBC after the fact, Zarazir denounced the “police state” we live in and said her treatment in parliament was not much better as she and her colleagues felt silenced and ignored by establishment officials.

.@CynthiaZarazir pic.twitter.com/K0F8WG7qu3

— (@Doumit_Azzi) September 26, 2022

Her Forces of Change colleague Halimé el Kaakour tweeted in support of Zarazir after the incident, stating that the parliamentary guard used this opportunity to “carry out the threats they had made against her.” Kaakour added that she would be moving alongside her Bloc to disband the parliamentary guard due to “their extensive powers linked to the speaker’s personal demands, and to hold it accountable for its crimes since October 17.”

كل التضامن مع المتظاهرين ومع الزميلة @CynthiaZarazir التي نفذ حرس المجلس تهديداتهم بحقها مستغلين تواجدها في التظاهرة.

سنواجه لحل شرطة المجلس فورا بسبب صلاحياتها الموسعة المربوطة بشخص رئيس المجلس، ولمحاسبتها على جرائمها منذ ١٧ تشرين.

أزمة النظام تجعل من قوى أمنية ميليشيات شخصية.

— Halimé El Kaakour | حليمة القعقور (@halime_el) September 26, 2022

This is the not the first incident between Zarazir and parliamentary officials, she had raised complaints back in July about finding condoms and inappropriate magazines in her office and about not being given a parking space on parliament grounds. She has also denounced the rampant misogyny she has experienced inside parliament and by Speaker Nabih Berri.