Surprised the left wingers didn't already post this after all the glee shown for
the last demonstration!

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This story was printed from channelnewsasia.com


Title : Almost a million Lebanese turn out to press for Syrian pullout
By :
Date : 15 March 2005 0358 hrs (SST)
URL :
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stori...137369/1/.html

BEIRUT : More than 800,000 people surged into central Beirut to demand an end to
Syria's near-three decade military domination of Lebanon, hurling a dramatic and
potent challenge to the pro-Syrian Lebanese government.

Ahead of the largest demonstration in the country's history, thousands of
Lebanese travelled from all over to Martyrs Square and the grave of former prime
minister Rafiq Hariri, assassinated exactly one month ago in a bomb blast.

Beirut city official Mounib 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.

Correspondents estimated the crowd last week at 400,000.

Martyrs Square, seen from above, was a vast expanse of red, the dominant color
in the Lebanese flag, which demonstrators waved in brilliant sunshine as they
sang and chanted slogans against Syria and the Lebanese leadership and called
for Lebanon's "independence" from Damascus.

Some Lebanese television stations reckoned Monday's crowd at 1.5 million.

"We say with one voice: 'no' to the Syrian military and intelligence presence,
'yes' to liberty and independence," thundered leftist political figure Elias
Attallah.

Lebanese MP Marwan Hamade, the official opening speaker, 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.

"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 (Hezbollah) 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 (intelligence service) are no
longer welcome in Lebanon."

Huguette Yamine, 57, said Monday's political 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, widely blamed here on Syria, has energized an opposition
movement aimed at forcing the withdrawal of all Syrian military and intelligence
units from the country.

Syria has denied involvement 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.

Thousands of demonstrators turned out in Syria on Monday to show their support
for Assad, the official Sana agency reported.

The demonstration in the city of Homs, north of Damascus, which was broadcast
live on state television, was not organised by the government, Sana said.

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 an indication of the diplomatic difficulties that lie ahead, Lebanese
President Emile 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 expected to take place before the end of May.

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. - AFP


• 800,000 pack Beirut for opposition rally
• Beirut braces for huge opposition demonstration
• Syria to withdraw one-third of its forces from Lebanon by March 31
• Assad pledges full withdrawal of Syrian forces from Lebanon: UN

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John H

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