Anti-Syria Demonstration in Lebanon
Charles Johnson
Thu Nov 23, 2006 at 9:00 am PST • Views: 616
Lebanese crowds defy Syria at Gemayel’s funeral.
BEIRUT (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of Lebanese paid tribute to assassinated Christian politician Pierre Gemayel on Thursday, turning his funeral in central Beirut into a display of defiance towards Syria and its Hezbollah allies.
Raucous crowds carrying Lebanese flags and those of Christian factions, including Gemayel’s Phalange Party, swarmed around Beirut’s St George Cathedral, where top Marionite cleric Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir conducted the rites. Sunni Muslim, Druze and Christian leaders, standing together behind bullet-proof glass, called for solidarity in the struggle against the influence of Syria and its allies in Lebanon.
“National unity is stronger than their weapons, their crimes and their terrorism,” said Saad al-Hariri, son of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri who was assassinated in 2005.
The leaders had accused Syria of killing the industry minister, the 34-year-old scion of one of Lebanon’s most prominent Maronite clans. Damascus condemned the assassination.
Posters of Syrian President Bashar Assad are burned by anti-Syrian protesters during the funeral of assassinated Christian politician Pierre Gemayel, at the Martyrs square, in Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday Nov. 23, 2006. Hundreds of thousands of Lebanese gathered to bid farewell to an assassinated young Christian politician Thursday, and his anti-Syrian allies turned his funeral into a powerful show of force against their opponents, led by the militant Shiite Muslim Hezbollah and its Syrian backers. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Frank says: