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Hezbollah ally calls for Lebanon's PM to quit

Huge Beirut rally demands PM quit





BEIRUT, Lebanon (CNN) -- A huge crowd of at least 200,000 people packed the streets of Beirut Friday, responding with cheers and applause as Christian opposition leader Michel Aoun called for Prime Minister Fouad Siniora to step down.

The rally -- including Hezbollah and other groups opposed to Siniora's government -- stretched for blocks. Security sources said at least 200,000 people were involved, though video suggested the number was even higher.

Pulling through on a threat to challenge Siniora's government if it did not give in to key demands -- including giving Shiites enough Cabinet seats for veto power -- Hezbollah and other powers showed their strength in a historic battle for control of the Middle Eastern nation.

"I call on the prime minister to resign, and his colleagues," said Aoun, pausing for huge applause and cheers that ricocheted throughout the capital.

Aoun demanded "a national unity government" and added, "Long live Lebanon."

Hezbollah and other pro-Syrian groups -- including the Shiite group Amal -- had called on participants to wave Lebanese flags instead of Hezbollah flags, in a sign that they represent Lebanon itself. In previous Hezbollah rallies, many waved Hezbollah flags instead.

Siniora has said there will be no "coup," and that he has no plans to step down.

His senior adviser Mohamad Chatah, as the protest was under way, told CNN that Lebanon has "a democratically elected parliament," and that if the government "were to succumb to this kind of pressure, it would make a mockery of the system at a time we are rebuilding a truly democratic Lebanon."

Shops were closed and main roads were heavily monitored by security forces as officials in the capital city braced for what some feared may escalate into a violent protest. As yet no violence had been reported.

"Saniora out! We want a free government!" protesters shouted through loudspeakers.

The crowd roared in approval amid the deafening sound of Hezbollah songs. "We want a clean government," read one banner, in what has become the opposition's motto.

Assassination sparked rally

The latest battle for political power was sparked by last week's assassination of an anti-Syrian leader, Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel. Numerous anti-Syrian figures have been assasinated in Lebanon over the past year. Demascus has denied any involvement.

Syria pulled its troops out of Lebanon two years ago when anti-Syrian rallies -- comprising the so-called "Cedar Revolution" -- swept through the country. That revolution followed the assassination of former prime minister Rafik Hariri, who had called for Syria's ouster.

Hezbollah, a militant group and political party supported by Syria, was bolstered by a war with Israel over the summer.

'Difficult days'

Friday's rally was called by Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, whose pro-Syrian ministers have resigned from the Lebanese Cabinet.

His deputy, Sheikh Naim Kassem, said the protests would not end until Siniora's Cabinet fell.

"This government will not take Lebanon to the abyss. We have several steps if this government does not respond but I tell them you will not be able to rule Lebanon with an American administration," he told Hezbollah's al-Manar television.

Opposition supporters streamed into the center of Beirut for the rally. "We're here to bring down the government. We, the resistance, don't want any influence from the United States," Najwa Bouhamdan, 41, told Reuters.

"We're protesting so that the government knows that nobody wants Siniora," said Hamzi Mesheh, 18, a university student from Baalbek, who had a Lebanese flag tied around his head.

Members of the Siniora government blamed Syria for Gemayel's death last month and accused Syria of trying to prevent the Lebanese government from endorsing a U.N. Tribunal to prosecute those responsible for the assassination of Hariri.

Since both incidents, Nasrallah has been emboldened by supporters in Syria and Iran to strike an offensive through peaceful protests to try to force Siniora's government to stand down in the face of popular protest.

Lebanon, a polyglot nation, has been held together since the Lebanese civil war in the 1980s by a Syrian occupation that ended after massive protests following Hariri's assassination.

The Lebanese constitution calls for specific roles for Lebanon's different interest groups that include Shiite, Sunnis and Druse among its Muslims as well as a Christian minority.

Nasrallah and Hezbollah want that constitution and the multi-party majority government overturned, feeling their resistance to Israel has given them the upper hand.

Hundreds of thousands protest in Beirut





BEIRUT, Lebanon - Hundreds of thousands of protesters from Hezbollah and its pro-Syrian opposition allies massed Friday in downtown Beirut seeking to force the resignation of Western-backed Prime Minister Fuad Saniora, who was holed up in his office ringed by hundreds of police and combat troops.

The Shiite Muslim Hezbollah and its allies mobilized their bases for the protest, arranging to bus supporters from all over Lebanon and handing out free gasoline coupons to people in remote regions.

The crowd, which police estimated at 800,000, created a sea of Lebanese flags that blanketed downtown. Hezbollah officials put the number at 1 million ¢¢¬¢‚¬ one-fourth of Lebanon¢¢¬¢ž¢s population.



Saniora went about his schedule in what appeared to be a tactic to ignore the throngs that quickly filled the streets. With heavy traffic reported on highways leading downtown, pro-government factions urged calm.

¢¢¬…œSaniora out! We want a free government!¢¢¬‚ protesters shouted through loudspeakers. The crowd roared in approval amid the deafening sound of Hezbollah revolutionary and nationalist songs. ¢¢¬…œWe want a clean government,¢¢¬‚ read one placard, in what has become the opposition¢¢¬¢ž¢s motto.

Fear of violence
Heavily armed soldiers and police had closed all roads to downtown, feverishly unfurling barbed wire and placing barricades.

Despite Hezbollah¢¢¬¢ž¢s assurances the protests will be peaceful, the heavy security came amid fears the protests may turn into clashes between pro- and anti-Syrian factions or that Hezbollah supporters could try to storm Saniora¢¢¬¢ž¢s government headquarters.

Hezbollah¢¢¬¢ž¢s security men, donning caps, formed two lines between the protesters and the security forces to prevent clashes.

Launching a long-threatened campaign to force Lebanon¢¢¬¢ž¢s U.S.-backed government from office, Hezbollah and its pro-Syrian allies said the demonstration would be followed by a wave of open-ended protests.

The battle is a fallout from the summer war between Hezbollah and Israel that ravaged parts of Lebanon. The guerrilla force¢¢¬¢ž¢s strong resistance against Israeli troops sent its support among Shiites skyrocketing, emboldening it to grab more political power. Hezbollah also feels Saniora did not do enough to support it during the fight.

Pro-government groups, in turn, resent Hezbollah for sparking the fight by snatching two Israeli soldiers, dragging Lebanon into war with Israel.

A defiant Saniora vowed his government would not fall, warning in a nationally televised speech Thursday night that ¢¢¬…œLebanon¢¢¬¢ž¢s independence is threatened and its democratic system is in danger.¢¢¬‚

Saniora asked Lebanese to show support by raising the Lebanese flag on their windows and balconies. Hezbollah¢¢¬¢ž¢s leader also called on protesters to carry the same banner, the national red and white flag with the historic cedar tree in its middle.

But both camps seemed wide apart on what kind of Lebanon they want.

'Stirring up discord'
Government supporters accuse Syria of being behind the Hezbollah campaign, trying to regain its lost influence in its smaller neighbor. Hezbollah and its allies, in turn, say the country has fallen under U.S. domination and that they have lost their rightful portion of power.

Tension have been running high between Sunni Muslims, who generally support the anti-Syrian government, and Shiites, who lead the pro-Syrian opposition, and Lebanon¢¢¬¢ž¢s Christians, who are divided between the two.

In a stark sign of the divide, the spiritual leader of Lebanon¢¢¬¢ž¢s Sunnis, Grand Mufti Mohammed Rashid Kabbani, gave Friday prayers at the prime minister¢¢¬¢ž¢s headquarters in a show of support for Saniora, a Sunni.

¢¢¬…œFear has gripped the Lebanese,¢¢¬‚ Kabbani said, appealing for the protests to end. ¢¢¬…œThe constitution guarantees freedom of expression, but trying to overthrow the government in the street is a call for stirring up discord among people, and we will not accept this.¢¢¬‚

Hezbollah had threatened to call for demonstrations unless it and its allies obtain a veto-wielding share of the Cabinet ¢¢¬¢‚¬ a demand that Saniora and the anti-Syrian parties have rejected. The aim of the protests is to generate enough popular pressure to further paralyze the government, forcing it to step down.

Hezbollah has proven in past rallies that it can draw hundreds of thousands of its Shiite supporters into the streets.

Hezbollah¢¢¬¢ž¢s deputy leader, Sheik Naim Kassim, made it clear the fight is against ¢¢¬…œAmerican tutelage¢¢¬‚ and said the protest action will continue until the government falls.

¢¢¬…œWe will not let you sell Lebanon, we will protect the constitution and people of Lebanon,¢¢¬‚ Kassim said on television Friday, addressing Saniora.

The United States has made Lebanon a key front in its attempts to rein in Syria and its ally, regional powerhouse Iran. President Bush warned earlier this week that the two countries were trying to destabilize Lebanon.

Hezbollah¢¢¬¢ž¢s leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, called for the protests to be peaceful. From the other camp, the head of the anti-Syrian bloc in parliament, Saad Hariri, said his supporters should not hold counter-demonstrations.

Hundreds of thousands of Lebanese also flooded the downtown area last week after Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel was shot dead to show their support for Saniora¢¢¬¢ž¢s government.

Lebanon has had a string of assassinations of anti-Syrian figures in the past two years, including a prominent Christian government minister gunned down last week and Hariri¢¢¬¢ž¢s father, former prime minister Rafik Hariri, who was killed in a February 2005 bombing.

More protests as Lebanon political crisis deepens




December 3, 2006

BEIRUT, Lebanon (Reuters) -- Lebanon's political crisis showed no sign of easing on Sunday, with the pro-Syrian opposition pressing on with its protest campaign to topple the Western-backed government.

Thousands of protesters from Hezbollah and its allies spent a second night in a tent city in central Beirut, within earshot of the office-turned-residence of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora.

"We are not letting them (ministers) sleep, we're disturbing them with our noise. We have the resilience to stay not for one month, but a year or two," said Ahmed Kayello, 20, from south Lebanon, sitting on a grassy slope.

Breakfast vendors parked on pavements, some protesters read newspapers, and long queues formed behind portable latrines, a morning after thousands of protesters chanted "Beirut is free, Siniora out," during a late Saturday night rally.

The opposition led by Hezbollah, which is backed by Syria and Iran, has been demanding effective veto power in the government whose majority is composed of anti-Syrian politicians.

But these politicians insist the opposition only wants to weaken the government and delay a U.N. tribunal which would try suspects in the 2005 slaying of ex-premier Rafik al-Hariri.

A preliminary U.N. inquiry has implicated Syrian and Lebanese security officials.

Six opposition ministers resigned from cabinet after the talks on national unity collapsed. Nevertheless, the depleted government approved plans for the tribunal, which served as a catalyst for the latest protests.

The cabinet was also weakened by the November 21 assassination of anti-Syrian minister Pierre Gemayel. A mass for Gemayel's killing was conducted at the Governmental Palace which Siniora and other anti-Syrian politicians attended.

"We assure the Lebanese that change is coming soon. A national unity government will be achieved," Hezbollah member of parliament Hussein Haj Hassan told the group's al-Manar television from the camp city.

Deadlock

Siniora, who has vowed he would not be forced out by the protests, has won expressions of support from Arab and Western countries, including the United States, Britain and Germany.

"The coup attempt in its second day: danger of sliding into sedition," the pro-government daily Al Mustaqbal's front-page headline read. "An attempt to inflame sectarian differences, and the Mustaqbal (anti-Syrian) faction is seeking sedition," read pro-opposition Ad Diyar.

Political sources from both camps said there were no serious moves to find a solution to the deadlock as both sides stuck to their positions. "We don't expect the showdown to be resolved any time soon," one source said on Saturday.

Although the dispute is political, many Lebanese fear the situation could spark sectarian violence. Tension between Sunnis and Shi'ites is high, as well as bad feeling between Christians who support leaders allied to the rival camps.

Hezbollah has repeatedly criticized Siniora's government over what it says was its failure to back the group during the 34-day summer war with Israel.