Loqman Slim’s Assassination

Statement by Citizens in a State Movement

Beirut, 4 February 2021

Loqman Slim’s assassination is an unjustifiable condemned crime. No normal person or responsible political party can but start by clearly condemning this crime.

In addition to the tragedy that personally struck Slim’s family and loved ones, the motives behind this assassination are clearly political. This crime is a very dangerous indicator for the direction towards which Lebanon is heading, whereas society is crumbling in front of everyone’s eyes, a society with deep divisions that manifested immediately after the crime.

We repeat what we said more than a year and a half ago, and what we recurrently warned about, the absence of an effective state in Lebanon will inevitably lead to society’s disintegration on one hand, and the infiltration of foreign interests, their violation of the interior and their use of society’s fragmentation at the expense of the Lebanese people’s present and future.

We, Citizens in a State movement, have disagreed with Loqman Slim on many positions and opinions; we even held opposing views most of the time. However, and specifically in regards to difference of opinion and approach, we consider this heinous crime to be an offence against the whole society, and we see that it establishes the way to rampant violence we have long been warning about.

Impotence inevitably leads to violence.

Only the effective state, meaning the civil state, can protect society, even from itself, and from the exterior, all of the exterior.