2ND Beirut vigil begins after massive anti-Seniora demo

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dpa German Press Agency
Published: Friday December 1, 2006

Beirut- Pro-Syrian opposition demonstrators Friday blocked roads in downtown Beirut leading to Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Seniora's offices after massive protests calling for his resignation. Protesters said they were beginning an all-night vigil as tents were set up on roads leading to the government palace where Seniora and ministers backing him were in effect besieged.

"Our followers will stay here until the fall of the Seniora government," Ghassan Darwish, a Hezbollah organizer, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa. "We can say the government is besieged. Let them resign," he said.

Hezbollah organizers of the earlier mass demonstration were seen distributing chairs, mattresses, food, drinks, blankets and water to protesters participating in the open-ended sit-in.

Most of the anti-Syrian ministers have been sleeping in the governmental palace since last Tuesday, fearing more assassinations after Christian anti-Syrian minister Pierre Gemayel was gunned down in a Christian neighbourhood.

Hundreds of thousands of pro-Syrian followers had gathered earlier around the governmental palace, calling on Seniora to step down.

Army troops and armoured vehicles were heavily deployed around the perimeter of the palace and barbed wire reaching nearly two metres high encircled the premises as the huge demonstration went ahead.

Sheikh Naeem Kassem, deputy head of the Hezbollah movement which was the main organisation involved in the protest, declared that the protest would not end until Seniora's cabinet fell.

"Out, out Seniora! We want a national-unity government," chanted the crowd bearing Lebanese flags. They had been urged to sing the Lebanese national anthem as the demonstration started at 1300 GMT.

Hezbollah's closest ally, hardline Maronite Christian leader Michel Aoun, called on the protestors in an interview with Hezbollah's al-Manar television to continue the protest overnight.

"I call on Seniora and his ministers to resign from the government immediately and form a national unity government. This is the only solution," he said.

"This government will not take Lebanon to the abyss. We have several steps (we can take) if this government does not respond, but I say you will not be able to rule Lebanon with an American administration."

Anti-American songs were sung and parts of speeches by the radical Hezbollah movement's leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah were broadcast, in which Nasrallah railed at Seniora's government. One song went: "America is the one behind our division, they are the vampires."

The crowds filled a large square facing the United Nations offices and the governmental palace, plus Martyrs Square where late premier Rafik Hariri - who was assassinated on February 14, 2005 - is buried.

Martyrs Square is where thousands of anti-Syrian followers had gathered last week to mourn the killing of government minister Pierre Gemayel, gunned down along with his bodyguard in a Christian neighbourhood by unidentified gunmen.

Organizers from the Lebanese Shiite militant groups Amal and Hezbollah told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa the number of protestors was more than a million, with followers coming from across Lebanon.

Civil defence trucks equipped with water cannon were positioned near the governmental palace and soldiers patrolled rooftops, keeping an eye on the crowds.

Inside the governmental palace, Sunni Grand Mufti Sheikh Mohammed Rashid Kabbani and the vice president of the Shiite religious council Abdel Amir Kabalan held Friday prayers with Seniora and other anti- Syrian ministers.

The anti-Syrian majority have accused Syria of being behind a series of assassinations that has targeted anti-Syrian political figures since Hariri was assassinated.

Seniora the previous evening had defied his pro-Syrian opponents, calling on all Lebanese in a television address "not to be scared and not to be desperate."

Seniora said his government would fight against the "return of the tutelage" - an apparent reference to the end of Syria's military and political domination of Lebanon which ended in April 2005.

Seniora stressed that the only way to topple his government would be via parliament - in which his bloc has a majority. His government was determined to protect the opposition's right to "peaceful" demonstrations - "but we will not accept any security breach or any aggression on private or public property."

Nasrallah for his part had called in a television address Thursday for mass participation in the "peaceful, democratic" demonstration to change what he described an "incapable government."

He called for the formation of a national unity government to include all of the country's disparate political elements as pro- Damascus allies including Hezbollah, its ally Amal and supporters of Aoun seek to destabilise the Seniora government.

The street protests were seen as the trump card against the administration after the failure of efforts to broker a political solution.

Hezbollah, backed by the pro-Damascus President Emile Lahoud, had earlier declared the Seniora government unconstitutional since six of its members, including five Shiites, had resigned.

Lebanon has been riven by division between the pro- and anti- Syrian blocs, arising in part from the Hariri killing as well as subsequent assassinations, including the slaying last week of industry minister Pierre Gemayel.

The anti-Syrian government accuses Syria and its agents in Lebanon of having been behind the killings, and of attempting to block the formation of an international tribunal to try suspects in the Hariri case.

© 2006 dpa German Press Agency