Huge protest pressures Lebanese government
BEIRUT, Lebanon (Reuters) -- Hundreds of thousands of flag-waving protesters flooded central Beirut on Sunday after a call by the Hezbollah-led opposition to step up their 10-day campaign to topple Lebanon's Western-backed government.
In a show of force, the chanting crowds swamped two squares in the heart of the capital and rivers of men, women and children poured through surrounding streets demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora.
"Siniora out," the crowds shouted. "Beirut is free," others yelled as one of the biggest rallies in Lebanon's history kicked off in bright sunshine. Giant loudspeakers blared out nationalist songs and drummers thudded a relentless beat.
The noise was clearly audible inside the nearby government headquarters where Siniora and most of his ministers are holed up. Armored vehicles, rings of razor wire and hundreds of security forces guarded the former Ottoman fortress.
Opposition activists have paralyzed the center since December 1 in a round-the-clock protest aimed at forcing Siniora and his Sunni-backed majority to form a government of national unity.
There were no official estimates of the size of Sunday's crowd but one security source said it was the largest such gathering ever seen in Lebanon.
"We will stay for days, weeks or months. Whatever it takes to bring down the government," said Nader Hafez, a 21-year-old Shiite from Beirut.
Siniora has accused the Shiite militant group Hezbollah of trying to stage a coup after its 34-day war against Israel this year. Hezbollah says the prime minister and his anti-Syrian allies had wanted Israel to crush it.
Commentators warn the worsening standoff could degenerate into widespread violence in a country that is still trying to rebuild after a 1975-90 civil war.
Dark clouds
Siniora told a conference on Sunday the future of Lebanon was at stake, but said the country's democracy was strong enough to absorb the shock of the protests.
"This challenge covers the vision of Lebanon's future, the future of its system and its place in the region and the world."
Thousands of soldiers and police tightened security in the capital before the demonstration, while at the rally site, an army of highly-organized Hezbollah volunteers checked bags in an effort to head off any potential trouble.
One Shiite protester has been killed and several people hurt in shooting incidents, riots and clashes between supporters of both sides over the past week.
Saudi Arabia strongly backs Siniora and is worried by the rising influence of Shiite Iran through its support for Hezbollah, Shiite parties in Iraq and an alliance with Syria.
"Our Arab region is surrounded by a number of dangers, like a powder keg ready to explode," King Abdullah said on Saturday, and "dark clouds" were threatening civil strife in Lebanon.
Pope Benedict called on Lebanon on Sunday to back away from political crisis and asked the international community to help find urgent, peaceful solutions at this "grave moment".
Hezbollah and its allies, who include a populist Christian party, want the power of veto in a new government and say if the demand is not met they will push for early elections.
The anti-government Ad-Diyar newspaper said the opposition would raise the stakes on Monday by calling strikes that would lead to a campaign of civil disobedience.
Siniora's supporters say Hezbollah simply wants to derail plans to set up an international tribunal to try suspects in the 2005 assassination of former prime minister Rafik al-Hariri, which many Lebanese blame on Syria -- a charge Damascus denies.
Original article posted here.
NOT LONG AGO
March 14, 2005
Hundreds of Thousands Jam Beirut in Rally Against Syria
By NEIL MacFARQUHAR
BEIRUT, Lebanon, March 14 - Hundreds of thousands of Lebanese jammed the center of downtown Beirut today, packing its central square and spilling out onto the surrounding roads, in the largest demonstration yet demanding the withdrawal of all Syrian forces from the country.
Seemingly every available space around the heart of the city overflowed with people waving the red-and-white striped Lebanese flag in what was being billed as the largest demonstration ever in Lebanon's history.
In the main mosque, still under construction, demonstrators even crammed the tiny balconies hundreds of feet up on the four minarets, balconies that the muezzin traditionally used to sing out the call to prayer. A few daredevils inched their way out along the huge construction crane looming over the square to drape a Lebanese flag at the end.
"We don't want Syrian spies and secret police, we don't want any foreign intervention," said Noha Dahir, a veiled, 18-year-old Sunni Muslim student who came by bus from the northern city of Tripoli. "Those Lebanese who want the Syrians to stay can go live in Syria, there are plenty of Lebanese here to fill the country."
The most notable element in the rally was that it did represent a broad cross section of Lebanese from all around the country.
"They can say that they represent a wide spectrum of Lebanese factions, including some Shiites, and they have been able to bring the Sunnis into the streets, which is not easy," said Ghassan Salame, a former minister of culture and political science professor, speaking by telephone from Paris. "They have an upward momentum now after a week that was full of uncertainty."
There have been rallies in the city center every Monday since former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was assassinated four Mondays ago, on Feb. 14, but organizers were determined to make this one especially large in response to the pro-Syrian march led by the militant group Hezbollah last Tuesday that also filled the downtown with hundreds of thousands of mostly Shiite demonstrators.
"This will counterbalance last Tuesday, and now we can sit and talk," said Mazen al-Zain, a 30-year-old financial analyst, noting that he himself was a member of an illustrious Shiite clan from southern Lebanon. "What is really important after today's gathering is that we all sit down at the same table."
The presence of such a huge number of Lebanese put added pressure on the government of Syria to announce a serious timetable for the withdrawal of both its 14,000 troops and its estimated 5,000 secret police officers in the country. Although President Bashar al-Assad of Syria has promised a withdrawal into the Bekaa Valley by the end of March and a further discussion with a joint Lebanese-Syrian commission in early April, there is still no indication of a timetable of a complete withdrawal.
The United Nations envoy, Terje Roed-Larsen, was due to report back to Secretary-General Kofi Annan about the exact promises delivered by the Syrians in talks Saturday. The United States and other Western nations have said they want all Syrians out before new parliamentary elections tentatively scheduled for May. Also, a United Nation fact-finding mission of senior police officers is returning to New York this week from Lebanon to give Mr. Annan its assessment of the investigation into Mr. Hariri's assassination.
Participants in today's march were convinced that the size of the opposition to any Syrian presence meant that the withdrawal was only a matter of time.
"They are trying to prove they are still strong to their nation while they are retreating," said Samer Khoury, 32, a manager in the Virgin megastore overlooking Martyrs Square, where the demonstrators gathered. The store's former parking lot is now the burial place for Mr. Hariri and the bodyguards who died with him.
The demonstration turned into an all-day affair, with marchers gathering around midmorning, hours before the official 3 p.m. start time, and the last speakers still going strong at 6 p.m. Banks and schools closed early and offices around the capital emptied, all swelling the crowds. The mob was so thick that numerous participants fainted and ambulances slowly inched their way through to rescue them.
Marwan Hamade, the first speaker, who himself survived a car bomb in October, addressed some of his words to the slain prime minister. "Your dream came true today and the horrendous crime failed," he said, before going on to repeat the opposition demand that all the leaders of the security services resign for their failure to protect Mr. Hariri. Given such organizations' close ties to Syria, of course, many Lebanese suspect one or more of the secret services might have had a hand in the crime.
Bahiya Hariri, Mr. Hariri's sister and a member of parliament, used her speech to reach out to both Hezbollah and its godparent Syria, which has long seen Lebanon as its last negotiating card to retrieve the occupied Golan Heights from Israel.
"We will stand by Syria until its land is liberated and it regains its sovereignty on the occupied Golan Heights," she said, prompting boos from the crowd. As for Hezbollah, she said, "We insist on building together with them the future of great Lebanon."
There were numerous calls on President Émile Lahoud of Lebanon to resign and one sign said "The Anti-Swimming Revolution," a reference to Mr. Lahoud's penchant for spending hours each day at the pool. Syria's forcing through a three-year extension to Mr. Lahoud's term last August was the opening shot in the tensions that culminated with Mr. Hariri's assassination and the current popular movement demanding Syria's withdrawal.
Mr. Lahoud angered many Lebanese over the weekend by suggesting that the demonstrations should end because someone might throw a hand grenade, possibly setting off a renewed civil war. They were also angry that Mr. Lahoud reinstated last week Prime Minister Omar Karami, who was forced to resign on Feb. 28 by a giant opposition protest. Still, the opposition has not pressed demands that Mr. Lahoud resign, fearing a complete power vacuum at the top in the absence of a cabinet.
"We kicked him out the door and he came back through the window," said Mr. Marwan Kayrouz, a 33-year-old real estate investor, who like many dismissed the idea of a renewed civil war. "Who is going to fight who? All the factions are here."Indeed, the mix of demonstrators was readily apparent in the mix of dress codes, from veiled women to horsemen in traditional Arab headscarves to women with bare midriffs and pierced belly buttons. A few of the banners cemented the theme of unity by displaying both a cross and a crescent.
Many of the banners displayed a certain degree of wit: "Long Live the Syrians in Syria," one said.
The demonstrators have adopted blue as the color demanding the truth from the investigation into Mr. Hariri's assassination and two long blue scarves were draped around the neck of the two main figures in the famous statue on Martyrs Square, the blue cloth occasionally lifting in the slight breeze under sunny skies.
"I feel a certain kind of grandeur today," said Tarek Hamade, the chef at the rooftop Virgin Restaurant that overlooks the entire square. "The Lebanese people are finally saying what they wanted to say for years, and they are saying it out loud."
Original article posted here.
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