BEIRUT – Hundreds of thousands of protesters from the Free Patriotic movement, Hizbullah and its opposition allies massed Friday in downtown Beirut seeking to force the resignation of Western-backed Prime Minister Fuad Siniora, who was holed up in his office ringed by hundreds of police and combat troops.
The oppositiom 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 the government estimated at 800,000, created a sea of Lebanese flags that blanketed downtown.Opposition officials put the number at 1 million and a half
Heavily armed soldiers and police had closed all roads to downtown, feverishly unfurling barbed wire and placing barricades.
Hizbullah’s security men, donning caps, formed two lines between the protesters and the security forces to prevent clashes..The battle is a fallout from the summer war between Hizbullah and Israel that ravaged parts of Lebanon. The guerrilla force’s strong resistance against Israeli troops sent its support among Shi’a skyrocketing, emboldening it to grab more political power. Hizbullah also feels Siniora did not do enough to support it during the fight.
A defiant Siniora vowed his government would not fall, warning in a nationally televised speech Thursday night that "Lebanon’s independence is threatened and its democratic system is in danger."Siniora asked Lebanese to show support by raising the Lebanese flag on their windows and balconies. Opposition 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.
In a stark sign of the divide, the spiritual leader of Lebanon’s Sunnis, Grand Mufti Mohammed Rashid Kabbani, gave Friday prayers at the prime minister’s headquarters in a show of support for Siniora, a Sunni."Fear has gripped the Lebanese," Kabbani said, appealing for the protests to end. "The 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."
The opposition had threatened to call for demonstrations unless it and its allies obtain a veto-wielding share of the Cabinet — a demand that Siniora 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. .
"We will not let you sell Lebanon, we will protect the constitution and people of Lebanon," Kassim said on television Friday, addressing Siniora. 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.
