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Hundreds of protesters have rallied in the Lebanese capital demanding that Islamist prisoners be part of a discussed general amnesty.

The rally in central Beirut Sunday was attended by hundreds of families of Islamist prisoners. They were pressing the government to include their relatives in a general amnesty expected to come ahead of the country's first election in ten years. The elections are scheduled for May. Lebanon had one general amnesty after the end of the civil war in 1990.

Lebanese authorities have rounded up hundreds of Sunni Islamists over the last years, including some who clashed with the military, following clashes between Sunnis and Shiites in northern Lebanon. They also include extremists believed to belong to al-Qaida-linked groups and the Islamic State group.