(BEIRUT, LEBANON) — A commission of Lebanese lawyers representing the Beirut Bar Association were violently attacked by a group of pro-regime Syrian lawyers on Sunday at an Arab Lawyers Union conference in Cairo, Egypt.
The violent assault came after Fadi Saad, a lawyer affiliated with the March 14 Future Movement, spoke about the Syrian army.
“The Egyptian army defended its people twice in 2011 and 2013, while the Syrian army is killing their people,” he said.
Cell phone footage broadcasted on LBC Television show a group of lawyers leaping from their seats and attacking Saad.
One Syrian lawyer can be seen throwing his shoe at Saad.
Minister of Justice Ashraf Rifi denounced the attack, according to Beirut-based newspaper, The Daily Star.
“The assault against the Lebanese lawyer’s delegation at a conference of the Arab Lawyers Union in Cairo indicates the nature of the Syrian regime,” he said. “(The lawyers’) practices are replicas of the system they belong too.”
The Future Movement also released a statement, claiming assault on two other Lebanese delegation members as well.
“As the lawyer Saad was delivering his speech, he was interrupted several times by Assad’s representatives, before they assaulted him and Lebanese delegation members Jabil Qambris and Munir al-Husseini,” the Future Movement said.
The Arab Lawyers Union describes itself as a “pan-Arab confederation of bar associations and law societies.” The group did not respond to requests for comment.
WATCH the attack: