Guardians of the Cedars-National Lebanese Movement
Central Directorate

The party of the Guardians of the Cedars-National Movement issued the following exceptional communiqué concerning the recent student demonstrations and the brutal repression that accompanied them:
The brutal repression of the recent student demonstrations did not surprise us, nor did the barbaric conduct of the Security Forces, the arbitrary detention or the physical abuse of peaceful students who were exercising their natural right of protesting against their prolonged suffering and the suffering of their people.
We were not surprised or taken unaware because the Lebanese regime has long become a copy of the dictatorial Syrian regime, with only an appearance of democracy. It is clear that the Security Force officers who confronted the demonstrators with marked harshness and savageness, acquired their the methods and techniques of repression during their military training sessions in Homs.These demonstrations brought out clearly and distinctly:

The state of popular discontent towards the dramatic living conditions that the Lebanese are now living under Syrian occupation which reminds them of the famine that befell their fathers during the Ottoman occupation.

The popular discontent towards this execrable occupation that represents subjugation in its extreme dimensions and towards its Lebanese stooges who represent ignominy and subservience in their extreme dimensions.

The Lebanese solidarity towards the national causes, thereby assuring the Nation's unity through all its religious denominations and contradicting the claims of the sectarians and the menace of civil war.

The sound political beliefs of our people who are still able to revolt against injustice and despotism despite the brutal attempts at suppressing their voices and the coercion that the Syrian occupation pursues against them for so many long years.

This is a proof of the nobleness of our people who are deeply rooted in democracy and their endless passion for liberty.
Whoever witnessed the anger discernible in the eyes of our students and their resounding cries of rejection, realized that the recent demonstrations are the forerunners of the revolution, the indication of the rapidly approaching end of Syrian hegemony and the beginning of Lebanese full sovereignty.
Blessed is the revolution of our youth and blessed are their uprising. God is with you and victory is the destiny of Lebanon!
At the Service of Lebanon,
Etienne Sacre
Lebanon, 20/4/2000