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Demonstrations caused important vandalism

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February 5, 2006

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The trouble in Lebanon threatened to take a sectarian spin as protesters stoned the nearby St. Maroun Church, one of the city's main Maronite Catholic churches, and private property in Ashrafieh, a Christian area near Beirut's commercial district. Demonstrations caused major damage in Achrafieh. Many cars and businesses were shattered by the demonstrators on their way to the Danish Embassy. Liberately St Maron Church and the Greek Orthodox bishopric were also severely vandalized. As an answer to these terrible attacks, Lebanese citizens in the city of Kahaleh closed the roads to forbid demonstrators to create further wreckage. In addition, the Free Patriotic Movement is organizing a demonstration in front of St Maron church at 6 PM.

Danish consulate over cartoons

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February 5, 2006

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Uncategorised

By Laila Bassam, BEIRUT (Reuters) - Angry Lebanese demonstrators torched the Danish consulate in Beirut on Sunday, further escalating a violent turn in protests over the publication by European newspapers of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad.Thousands of protesters, some carrying green Islamic flags, chanted "God is Greatest" outside the burning building as thick black smoke billowed into the sky.

Some stood on top of a fire engine, one of three damaged by protesters to prevent fire fighters putting the blaze out. It was not immediately clear if the building was empty. On Saturday furious Syrians had set fire to the Danish and Norwegian embassies in Damascus. They also damaged the Swedish embassy and tried to storm the French mission but were held off by riot police.

The Scandinavian countries and the United States condemned Syria for failing to protect the embassies. Lebanese security forces had fired tear gas at a crowd of about 20,000 as they marched towards the Danish consulate. Pls click "READ MORE" to view pictures.

Calls for solidarity with Lebanon

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February 3, 2006

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Uncategorised

French TV broadcaster Christine Ockrent yesterday hosted a Reporters Without Borders evening of solidarity with Lebanon, where newspaper journalists Samir Kassir and Gebran Tueni were murdered last year and Lebanese TV presenter May Chidiac was maimed by a bomb. Relatives of the victims and leading French and Lebanese figures took part in the event, held in the Orsay Museum auditorium in Paris, and paid homage to the victims.

Tueni

Lebanon compromise avoids showdown with UN

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February 3, 2006

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Uncategorised

By Lin Noueihed, BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanon's declaration that Hizbollah is a resistance movement was a compromise aimed at ending a political crisis without provoking a showdown with the U.N. Security Council which demands the guerrilla group disarm.Five Shi'ite ministers had launched a government boycott on December 12, paralysing the country and sparking a slanging match between politicians for and against Hizbollah keeping its arms.

Talks to secure their return had faltered over a Shi'ite demand that the cabinet explicitly state that Hizbollah was not a militia but an anti-Israeli resistance group. Hizbollah has been under pressure to lay down its weapons since the U.N. Security Council demanded 16 months ago that foreign troops leave Lebanon and all militias there disarm. Pro-Syrian Hizbollah and Amal, Lebanon's main Shi'ite parties, announced an end to the seven-week government boycott on Thursday after Prime Minister Fouad Siniora told parliament that Hizbollah had always been considered a national resistance organisation. He did not use the word militia.Political sources read Siniora's words as a way to coax Shi'ite parties to rejoin the government, while not rejecting the U.N. resolution 1559 on militia disarmament.