Al-Jazeerah, December 10, 2006 The Lebanese opposition composed of supporters of Hizbullah, Amal, Michel Awn, Franjiyeh, and Talal Arslan staged their largest protest ever. Lebanese army officers estimated it as hundreds of thousands filling Riyadh Al-Sulh Square, Martyrs Square, and nearby streets, bringing Beirut to a standstill.
General Michel Aoun threatened that the opposition would resort to different measures within days if Saniora government does not resign and form a unity government with the opposition.The Hizbullah representative, Shaikh Na’im Qassem, offered Saniora to join the Lebanese people by leaving the US camp. He asked Saniora to return a truck lauded with weapons confiscated during the Hizbullah war with Israel. He also asked him to resign if he wants to clear his name.
What’s amazing about the continuous Lebanese opposition protest is that it is the same tactic used by US-backed groups in Eastern Europe and former Soviet Republics to overthrow elected governments. This time, it is the true national opposition using the same tactic to bring down a US-backed government.
Lebanon protesters turn up the heat on Saniora
By Clovis Casali
BEIRUT, Dec 10, 2006 (AFP) –
Cries of "Sinioria, out!" echoed across Beirut on Sunday as hundreds of thousands of opposition protesters packed into the capital for a Hizbullah-led rally the army described as "unprecedented."
"Change is coming," the opposition banners boasted as a sea of demonstrators waving Lebanese flags spilled into the streets surrounding the offices of Western-backed Prime Minister Fuad Saniora.
Fully veiled Shi’i women, Christian students wearing T-shirts and fathers hoisting children on their shoulders were among the crowds who cheered a series of opposition speakers urging the resignation of the (US-backed) government.
Hizbullah leader, Shaikh Hassan Nassrullah, whose Islamic Resistance Movement has spearheaded the protests which kicked off on December 1, has vowed his supporters will not quit the streets until the cabinet makes way for a government of national unity.
As many as 20,000 troops deployed on the streets and around the government building where Saniora has been holed up.
Hizbullah’s Al-Manar television said the protest promised to be larger than the December 1 rally that kicked off the opposition campaign.
"This is a sea of demonstrators unprecedented in the history of Lebanon," an army spokesman said, estimating that "hundreds of thousands" had gathered in the heart of Beirut and on access roads to the city center.
In addition to red-and-white Lebanese flags, some demonstrators waved orange banners and photos of Christian former general Michel Aoun, as well as yellow Hizbullah flags and the green standards of the Shi’i movement Amal.
As the deadlock deepened in a political crisis which many fear could plunge Lebanon back into civil strife, the opposition vowed to escalate its action and paralyse main roads, including the Beirut airport road.
Saniora warned against such actions, saying they "will put the country into a cycle of violence which will not be in anyone’s interest."
The premier acknowledged that "our political and democratic regime is facing a challenge," but said that "Lebanon is a strong country — we will overcome this crisis."
He again called for talks instead of protests. "Our hand is extended. We will not close any doors. We will work on opening doors."
Government supporters have staged large counter-rallies amid the deadlock that threatens to paralyse the legislative process with the speakership of parliament in the hands of the opposition.
The Lebanese opposition accuses the government of weakness and corruption, and says it no longer represents the people after six opposition ministers submitted their resignations last month.
The protesters want to replace the current cabinet, formed after 2005 elections, with a national unity government that they say is required by the power-sharing arrangements in force since the 1975-90 civil war.
Hizbullah Supporters Protest Saniora
Dec 10, 2006, 11:52 AM EST
BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) —
Hundreds of thousands of Hizbullah supporters poured into downtown Beirut on Sunday, demanding the prime minister cede some power to the opposition or step down.
Holed up in his fortified office downtown, Prime Minister Fuad Saniora said he was open to dialogue between with the opposition, and acknowledged the political crisis was threatening Lebanon’s security, economy and the entire political system.
"We don’t want Lebanon to be an arena of the wars of others. Lebanon is a nation, not an arena," he said in a veiled reference to Hizbullah’s backers in Syria and Iran.
Political unrest has split the country along dangerous sectarian lines, with most Sunni Muslims supporting the U.S.-backed Sunni prime minister and Shi’i Muslims backing the Hizbullah. Christian factions are split between the two camps.
Sunday’s demonstration could be a tipping point in the political crisis, ten days after a coalition of largely pro-Syrian opposition groups launched a series of rallies against Saniora’s anti-Syrian government.
"Let the government fall!" an organizer shouted through a loudspeaker, with the crowd roaring in approval.
Lebanese combat troops and police sealed off major roads and added layers of barbed wire around the prime minister’s sprawling downtown complex, where he has remained with most of his ministers since Dec. 1.
Thousands of demonstrators camped out overnight in two downtown Beirut squares, and hundreds of thousands more joined the crowd for the afternoon demonstration. Several hundred tents have lined the area for more than a week.
Police had no immediate crowd estimates, but the crowd appeared to be even larger than a similar Hizbullah anti-government rally on Dec. 1 that police said drew 800,000 of Lebanon’s 4 million people. The rally – filling downtown Beirut’s plazas and many neighborhoods – promised to be one of the biggest in Lebanon’s history.
Protesters streamed downtown, waving Lebanese and Hizbullah flags as loudspeakers blasted anti-government speeches and anthems in support of the guerrilla group. Bands of musicians pounded drums in a carnival-like atmosphere, while Hizbullah security agents wearing white caps fanned out in the crowd.
"Down with the corrupt government," read one banner. "We want a clean government," read another.
"We have come to show them how big our size really is," said Reem al-Zein, a 20-year-old philosophy student wearing a Muslim headscarf. "I think this lying government will not be able to last much longer after today."
Saniora spoke by video link to a memorial for a politician killed in a car bomb last year.
"What is the great cause for this tense political clamoring and the open sit-ins?" Saniora asked. "Is this the ideal way to achieve demands, whatever they are?"
Lebanon’s political crisis began after talks on a national unity Cabinet collapsed, and Hizbullah’s two ministers and four allies resigned from the Cabinet and joined the opposition. It erupted Nov. 21 with the assassination of politician Pierre Gemayel, followed by a national strike, his funeral and the opposition sit-in.
Street protests have since paralyzed the core of Beirut.
Saniora has refused to quit and has received hundreds of supporters daily at his office complex to counter the opposition protests and sit-ins outside. He and Hizbullah leader Shaikh Hassan Nassrullah have exchanged unprecedented accusations and insults.
Relations between the two camps deteriorated after the Israel-Hizbullah war last summer and a U.N. push for the creation of an international tribunal to try suspects in the 2005 assassination of former Premier Rafik Hariri.
The summer war ravaged parts of Lebanon. Hizbullah’s fight against Israel sent its support among Lebanese skyrocketing, emboldening it to grab more political power.
Hizbullah now accuses Saniora and some elements in his government of working with Israel to destroy the Lebanese Islamic Resistance Movement. Pro-government groups, in turn, resent Hizbullah for sparking the war by snatching two Israeli soldiers. They, along with the United States, accuse Hizbullah of seeking to overthrow the government.
On Sunday, the crowd of protesters gathered under a giant banner depicting Saniora kissing Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on the cheek on a visit to Beirut during the war. "Thanks Condy," it said in English.
President Emile Lahoud on Saturday refused to endorse a draft accord sent to him by Saniora’s divided Cabinet to create an international tribunal to investigate Hariri’s killing by a truck bomb that also left 22 others dead.
A U.N. investigation has said suggested Syrian and Lebanese intelligence services played a role in Hariri’s assassination. Syria denies involvement.
Lahoud maintained that the remaining Saniora Cabinet had lost its constitutional legitimacy, an argument the prime minister has disputed because Cabinet meetings still have the quorum necessary to make decisions.
The president’s action was certain to intensify tension.
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Associated Press reporter Zeina Karam contributed to this report.
