Lebanonwire.com | 800,000 pack Beirut for opposition rally

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March 14, 2005

800,000 pack Beirut for opposition rally
by Nathaniel Harrison

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BEIRUT - An emboldened Lebanese opposition mobilized more than 800,000 people Monday to demand an end to Syrian military domination of Lebanon, hurling a potent challenge to the Syrian-backed government here.

Beirut city official Mounib Nassereddine said the estimate of 800,000 did did not include demonstrators who were still arriving from all parts of the country ahead of the rally.

Thousands of Lebanese had made their way throughout the morning to the capital by car, bus and boat, heading for Martyrs Square and the grave of former prime minister Rafiq Hariri, assassinated exactly one month ago in a bomb blast.

Lebanese television aired spectacular pictures of a massive throng in the square, showing thousands of demonstrators waving the red, white and green Lebanese flag in bright sunshine against the deep blue of the Mediterranean in the background.

Nassereddine said Monday's gathering was "at least two and a half times" larger than last Tuesday's turnout called by pro-Syrian Lebanese parties, notably the Shiite Muslim movement Hezbollah. AFP correspondents estimated the crowd last week at 400,000.

"Hezbollah organized a giant demonstration last Tuesday to intimidate us," said Nada, 35, as she travelled to Beirut from Zahle in the east."Today we're taking up the challenge and invite it to join us because we represent the true majority of the country."

Added Anwar: "The Syrian people are our brothers. We have ties that go back centuries but the Syrian army and the mukhabarat (intellence service) are no longer welcome in Lebanon."

Huguette Yamine, a 57, said Monday's poltical demonstration was her first.

"I came with 10 family members. We walked here all the way from the other side of Beirut. We've had enough. I want my children to live in a free and democratic Lebanon."

Hariri's killing is widely blamed here on Syria and has energized an opposition movement aimed at forcing the withdrawal of all Syrian military and intelligence units from the country.

Lebanese MP Marwan Hamade, the official opening speaker, also charged that Lebanese and Syrian intelligence services were hiding the truth behind the assassination.

"You want the truth on the assassination?" he asked. "It's lying in the dark chambers of the (Syrian-Lebanese) intelligence services that are ruling us and that you are in the process of sweeping out."

"They killed (Hariri) because he was thwarting their plan to make Lebanon submit. They killed him because they are the enemies of democracy and Arabism," Hamade declared.

Syria has denied involvement in the assassination and on Saturday Syrian President Bashar al-Assad gave a commitment to a UN envoy to carry out the pullback in accordance with a United Nations Security Council resolution.

Syrian forces in Lebanon numbered about 14,000 at the time of Hariri's murder but have since begun a redeployment, leaving north Lebanon and the mountains over Beirut for points further east on their way home across the border.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice described the Syrian pledge as "positive" but said Washington would continue to press for full compliance with UN Resolution 1559, approved last September.

But in indication of the diplomatic difficulties that lie ahead, Lahoud insisted Sunday that the date of a final pullout would be determined by Lebanese and Syrian authorities.

Syrian Expatriates Minister Bussaina Shaaban nonetheless told CNN Sunday that Syrian forces would likely be out of Lebanon before legislative elections there that are in principle expected to take place before the end of May.

Monday's rally will in effect respond to a huge demonstration Sunday in the southern Lebanese city of Nabatiyeh, where 200,000 to 300,000 people turned out to denounce the UN pullout resolution, seen as gross foreign interference, and to express gratitude to Syria for its role in Lebanon.

In some quarters, notably the country's Shia Muslim community, Syria is seen as having preserved Lebanese stability in the aftermath of the country's devastating 1975-1990 civil war.

Many Shia Muslims, who make up about 30 percent of the population, are grateful to Syria for having supported their struggle for mainstream political power after decades of exclusion.

Syrian forces entered Lebanon in 1976 to serve as a buffer between warring Lebanese factions and at one point numbered 40,000.

Hariri's assassination also plunged Lebanon into political crisis, forcing the resignation February 28 of Prime Minister Omar Karameh in the face of public fury.

But Karameh was called back to the premiership by Lahoud 10 days later, only to find his appeal for a government of national unity rebuffed by the opposition.