Geagea insisted that such a meeting is constitutional. He added “According to the constitution if the speaker elects not to call for a parliament meeting then his deputy or the eldest member of the parliament could convene such a meeting”.

Geagea said if the (Hezbollah ) protests continue then we will have to be creative by resorting to the constitution to ensure the functioning of the Lebanese institutions.

The purpose of the International Tribunal is to identify and prosecute the killers of former Prime Minster Rafik Hariri who was assassinated on February 14, 2005 in downtown Beirut.

In response to Berri’s comments that a parliament meeting could lead to mass resignations of the opposition MPs and escalate the street protests , he said that this is not true. He added the purpose of the parliament meetings is to discuss issues of disagreement and not leave these matters to the street to decide.

With reference to Berri’s much publicized initiative , Geagea said , so far we have not received any details about this, but as soon as we get them we are willing to study them carefully and respond accordingly.

Berri’s initiative according to unofficial reports is to form a temporary government of 10 members.

Picture: Speaker Nabih Berri ( L) and hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah

Sources: Al Anwar, Ya Libnan