Lebanese labor minister Sejaan Azzi has threatened to deport Swedish citizens living in Lebanon if Sweden goes through with its alleged plan to kick Lebanese immigrants out of Sweden, citing claims that Sweden and Finland are set to remove some 100,000 immigrants from their countries in order to make room for new arrivals from Syria.
Though Swedish ambassador to Lebanon Peter Sembley has wholly denied these claims and stated that there is no plan to remove anyone from Sweden in preparation of taking in more Syrian refugees, Azza maintains that such a move will bring consequences for the Swedes who reside inside Lebanon.
The bizarre exchange has prompted comment from the Lebanese populace, many of whom have responded sarcastically to the labor minister’s “threat”.
السويد تعلن حالة الطوارئ بعد تصريح سجعان قزي !
— Lara Sakr (@larasaker) August 8, 2016
"Sweden declares state of emergency in light of Minister Azzi’s statement!"
What’s more is that when Gulf countries deported Lebanese citizens <<earlier this year>>, there was no threat of responding in the same way to the vacationers from the Gulf who often visit Beirut.
قزي: سنرد على ترحيل اللبنانيين من السويد بالمثل
ليش ما رديت على السعودية والإمارات بالمثل يا روح أمك؟؟— major cobra (@majcobra) August 8, 2016
"Minister Azzi: We will respond to the deportation of Lebanese citizens from Sweden with equal force. Why didn’t you respond to Saudi Arabia and the Emirates with equal force you idiot mama’s boy!"
Still others were amused. They wondered: Why would a Swede be threatened by the thought of going back to Sweden?
ردا على ترحيل السويد للبنانيين:الوزير سجعان قزي يريد الرد بالمثل.
— diana moukalled (@dianamoukalled) August 8, 2016
أصلا اذا في سويديين تركوا بلدهم واجوا علبنان لازم يتحاكموا مش بس يترحلوا
"In response to Sweden’s deportation of Lebanese nationals: Minister Sejaan Azzi wants a reciprocal response.
Ok, if there’s Swedes that have left their country who want to come to Lebanon we shouldn’t just deport them, we should prosecute them too!"
Time will tell whether the diplomatic standoff will have any real repercussions, but for now Sweden has yet to confirm nor make any move towards deporting Lebanese nationals.
