Au Liban, urbanisme et toponymie enrôlés au service de la territorialisation politique - ici à Tripoli
New public park named after martyr Wissam al-Hasan | News , Local News | THE DAILY STAR
▻http://dailystar.com.lb/News/Local-News/2013/Jun-06/219607-new-public-park-named-after-martyr-wissam-al-hasan.ashx#axzz2VQ
New public park named after martyr Wissam al-Hasan
June 06, 2013 01:35 AM
By Antoine Amrieh
The Daily Star
The park, with dozens of citrus trees and date palms and 60 varieties of flowers, provides a much-needed green space for the city.
The park, with dozens of citrus trees and date palms and 60 varieties of flowers, provides a much-needed green space for the city.
A+ A-
TRIPOLI, Lebanon: Tripoli’s municipality inaugurated Wednesday a public park named after the late Brig. Gen. Wissam al-Hasan, as the former head of the Internal Security Forces said progress was being made in the investigation into the assassination. Speaking during the event, held on the occasion of World Environment Day, retired Gen. Ashraf Rifi said that the investigation into Hasan’s case had achieved significant progress.
“I know most of [the results reached] ... those who committed the crime are professionals, but the investigators are also professionals and the criminal will brought to justice,” he added.
Hasan, who headed the ISF Information Branch, was killed in a car blast in Beirut last October.
Touching on the deteriorating security situation in Tripoli, Rifi said the state and Army should protect the people of Lebanon’s second city.
“The Lebanese state, represented by the Army and Internal Security Forces along with civil institutions, should strive to guarantee the safety of [Tripoli’s] people,” Rifi said.
Relative calm prevailed in Tripoli Wednesday after six were killed and 41 wounded in clashes between supporters and opponents of Syrian President Bashar Assad. The city has seen similar rounds of violence, which has killed dozens of people since Syria’s uprising began in March 2011.
“Be confident that there is an international decision in place to protect the country from the repercussions of the conflicts in the region and we Lebanese should work relentlessly to protect this country,” Rifi said.
The more-than-18,000-square-meter park in Hasan’s name was hailed as a much-needed boost for a city that is suffering from violence as well as environmental degradation.
Jalal Halwani, the head of the Parks and Environment Department of Tripoli’s municipality, spoke of a sad state of affairs in a city “which in 1932 was a leader in supplying fresh water to its residents; and today, its underground sources of water are saline and polluted.”
“It was one of the cleanest cities, and now it has become dirty due to a lack of environmental awareness,” he said.
“But despite the gloomy situation of the environment and the security in Tripoli, we decided to inaugurate a park today to create hope and out of our appreciation [of Hasan],” he said.
Halwani added that the municipality of Tripoli had chosen to name the public garden after Hasan, who the city’s residents admired and considered one of their own.