Security forces and protestors demanding the release of leftist striver George Abdallah clashed on Thursday outside the French cultural center in the southern city of Sidon.

Security forces and protestors demanding the release of leftist striver George Abdallah clashed on Thursday outside the French cultural center in the southern city of Sidon.

The skirmishes took place the same day unknown persons sprayed slogans in support of Abdallah on the walls of the French institute.

A statement issued by the International Campaign to Free George Abdallah, which has called for the protests across Lebanon, said Wednesday that the campaign against French interests will only end when Abdallah is released.

A court in Paris has granted him parole but his release was delayed after the French interior ministry postponed the approval of the deportation order.

President Michel Suleiman expressed regret at the failure to release the struggler, telling cabinet ministers during a session held at Baabda palace on Thursday that he urged French authorities through messages he delivered to French Ambassador Patrice Paoli to resolve the matter.

Lebanon's ambassador to Paris will press for his release during a meeting he would hold at the French foreign ministry on Thursday, Information Minister Walid al-Daouq said.

The Sidon protest came along with another ally at the cultural institute in Deir al-Qamar at noon. Four other protests were held at in Nabatiyeh, Tripoli and Baalbek cities.

Abdallah was arrested in 1984 and sentenced to life in prison three years later for his alleged involvement in the 1982 murders of U.S. military attaché Charles Robert Ray and the Zionist diplomat Yacov Barsimantov.

Abdallah had been eligible for parole from 1999 onwards but failed in seven previous bids to be released.