Posted on 03/14/2005 1:12:19 PM PST by BMC1
BEIRUT, Lebanon — Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators chanted "Freedom, sovereignty, independence," and waved a sea of Lebanese flags in Beirut on Monday, the biggest anti-Syrian protest yet in the opposition's duel of street rallies with supporters of the Damascus-backed government.
Crowds of Druse, Christians and Sunni Muslims flooded Martyrs' Square and spilled over into nearby streets — responding to an opposition call to turn out for the removal of Syrian troops from Lebanon.
"We are coming to liberate our country. We are coming to demand the truth," said Fatma Trad, a veiled Sunni Muslim woman who traveled from the remote region of Dinniyeh in northern Lebanon to take part.
The assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik exactly one month ago sparked the series of protests against Syria, the dominant power in Lebanon. The throngs fell silent at 12:55 p.m. — the exact time Hariri was killed four weeks ago by a huge bomb in Beirut. The silence was broken only by church bells tolling and the flutter of flags.
Later, thousands of red and white balloons were released above the teeming crowd, many of whom wore scarves in the same colors that have come to symbolize the country's anti-Syrian movement in what the U.S. State Department has dubbed the "Cedar Revolution." Brass bands playing patriotic and national folk songs and Lebanon's national anthem were regularly drowned out by deafening chants from the crowd.
Monday's protest easily surpassed a pro-government rally of hundreds of thousands of people last week by the Shiite Muslim militant group Hezbollah. That show of strength forced the opposition to try to regain its momentum.
While there were no official estimates of the size of the crowd, police officers privately estimated it at about 1 million people.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Pictures?
Theres like 10 existing threads on the protest now.
Tryin' to get people in once place.
For that matter, wonder if the MSMNews will talk about the NYTimes article about WMD's being in Iraq before the invasion? Rush says they won't dare mention it either.
I saw some great pics on I think Little Green Footballs or Captain's Quarters Blogs........it was amazing.....guess that shows Hezbollah that the "real" people can do it bigger and better than those who "force" others and get Syrians to cross the border to protest......Freedom will reign in the end
Estimates of the crowd are closer to 2 million now. That's half the population of Lebanon!
Like I said right after 9/11;
Give lebanon to the jews, and syria to the turks. They know how to take care of those terrorists.
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