Brussels, 22/10/2012 (Agence Europe) - On Friday 19 and Saturday 20 October, the Europeans condemned the car bomb attack which, according to the final figures, left three dead, including General Wissam El Hassan, and more than 120 injured, in Beirut, Lebanon, on Friday 19 October. The High Representative for the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton and the President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, spoke out strongly against this attack and the violence. Ashton called on the Lebanese for calm and to ensure that this “shocking” attack does not destabilise the country, stressing that it is “in stark contrast to the recent efforts to rebuild this country, guarantee its stability, consolidate the sense of national unity and promote a culture of dialogue”. Ashton stressed that those responsible for the crime should be pursued and brought to justice. Expressing solidarity with the people of Lebanon, Schulz also stressed that a peaceful and stable Lebanon was vital to the people of the country and the wider region.
The British Foreign Secretary, William Hague, said that he was “horrified” by the attack, describing it as a “horrendous act that shows an appalling contempt for human life”. He expressed his support to the Lebanese government in its efforts to build a “more stable and secure Lebanon”. His Swedish counterpart, Carl Bildt, described the attack as “deeply worrying”, stressing that the stability of the country was of “vital importance” to the region. The French President, François Hollande, spoke out “in the strongest possible terms” against the attack, hoping that light will be shed on this “terrorist act”. He called upon “all political leaders in Lebanon to keep in place the unity of the country and to protect it against all attempts at destabilisation, wherever they come from” . His head of diplomacy, Laurent Fabius, said that “all indications are that (the attack) is an extension of the Syrian tragedy”. (CG/transl.fl)