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'Record' protest held in Beirut
BBC ^ | Monday, 14 March, 2005, 22:46 GMT | staff

Posted on 03/14/2005 7:44:28 PM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach

'Record' protest held in Beirut

Beirut's Martyrs' Square was packed solid with people



Nearly one million people gathered for an opposition rally in Beirut, officials say - a month after the death of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

The demonstration surpassed recent pro-Syrian rallies and is thought to be the biggest in Lebanese history.

The BBC's Kim Ghattas in Beirut says the crowds turned the city centre into a sea of red, white and green - the colours of Lebanon's national flag.

They were protesting against the presence of Syrian forces in Lebanon.

Syria has pulled back some of its troops in Lebanon to the border.

Damascus also promised the UN a full timetable for the withdrawal of its 14,000 troops and intelligence agents.

Meanwhile military intelligence officers left two offices in the north, in the town of Amyoun in Koura region and Deir Ammar on the coast, the Associated Press news agency reported.

Sunni turnout

Beirut city official Mounib Nassereddine told AFP news agency more than 800,000 people had turned out for the protest, which would make it the biggest demonstration held in the country's history.

AP also estimated the same turnout.

Demonstrators packed Martyrs Square, near where Hariri died in a car bomb, and the crowd spilled over into nearby streets.

We represent the true majority of the country

Nada
Protester


The sea of people fell silent at 1255 (1055 GMT), the exact time Hariri was killed four weeks ago.

Unlike previous anti-Syrian rallies, Sunni Muslims came out in force to join Druze and Christians to commemorate the loss of their leader.

A stream of buses and cars brought protesters from the eastern Bekaa Valley, while others arrived from Junieh in the north by sea.

"Hezbollah organised a giant demonstration last Tuesday to intimidate us," Nada, 35, who travelled to Beirut from Zahle in the east, told AFP.

"Today we're taking up the challenge and invite [Hezbollah] to join us because we represent the true majority of the country," she said.

Many offices and schools closed early for the demonstration.

Our correspondent says a lot more effort went into organising this event, and the media owned by Hariri was a driving force.

The opposition will try to keep the momentum until parliamentary elections in May, she adds.

Sister jeered

An investigation is continuing into Hariri's death and the opposition has demanded the resignation of senior security officials.

Boy painted in the Lebanese national colours at pro-Syrian rally
Pro-Syrian rallies have been held in recent weeks

Druze opposition MP Marwan Hamadeh told the huge crowd: "You want the truth [about Hariri's killing]? It's clear... the world and Lebanon know them [the killers] well, know them one by one, name by name, rank by rank."

But Hariri's sister drew jeers from the crowd when she told them: "We will stand by Syria until its land is liberated and it regains its sovereignty on the [Israeli-] occupied Golan Heights."

Correspondents say fears are growing that protests could spill over into violence, with the authorities considering a ban on protests after Monday.

Both President Emile Lahoud and Maronite Christian Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir, a leading opposition mentor, have urged dialogue as an alternative to protests as a way out of the crisis.




TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: beirut; beirutrally; lebanon; syria; uprising
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Almost a million people gather in the Lebanese capital,
Beirut, to protest against the presence of Syrian forces.

1 posted on 03/14/2005 7:44:34 PM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach
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To: All

Todays Rally threads:

2 posted on 03/14/2005 7:45:19 PM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach (This tagline no longer operative....floated away in the flood of 2005 ,)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

I just listened to Claudia Rosett on Hugh Hewitt's show discuss this. Amazing. This was a REAL showing by REAL Lebanese, not bused-in Syrian fakes and Hezbollah agents.

Many mullahs are quaking in their sandals tonight.

The question is: is this going to be a repeat of East Berlin, 1989, or Beijing, 1989?


3 posted on 03/14/2005 7:47:57 PM PST by Choose Ye This Day (A world of creatures that worked like machines would hardly be worth creating. -- C.S. Lewis)
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To: Choose Ye This Day
This was a REAL showing by REAL Lebanese, not bused-in Syrian fakes and Hezbollah agents.

Exactly right - And what is funny is to watch the headlines from the MSM -

When the "fakes" Syrian soldiers hold protests the MSM headlines are "protest against America in Syria" - Yet when these honest protesters show up to protest against Syria (and in support of America to some extent) -

The headline reads "pro-Lebanon protesters blah, blah blah" - But they try and completely leave out any reference to it being pro-American. (yet run with the anti-American angle on the other side. They can't even stay consistent).

4 posted on 03/14/2005 7:52:31 PM PST by SevenMinusOne
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To: Choose Ye This Day
If it becomes Peking 1989, the US Air Force can topple Assad or make him wish he'd never started this struggle.
5 posted on 03/14/2005 7:53:10 PM PST by elhombrelibre (How many days has it been since John Kerry said he'd sign an SF 180?)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

Here's another to add to your list.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1362891/posts


6 posted on 03/14/2005 7:53:10 PM PST by GoLightly
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To: DevSix

"protest against America in Syria"

When did we go into Syria & where are all of these protests against our being there? (Sorry, I couldn't help myself.)


7 posted on 03/14/2005 7:56:57 PM PST by GoLightly
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To: GoLightly
When did we go into Syria & where are all of these protests against our being there?

You are exactly right - but I have seen that exact headline on Yahoo, Google News and MSNBC web sites.

Suggesting "large protests in support of Syrian Gov't and against America" -

8 posted on 03/14/2005 7:59:50 PM PST by SevenMinusOne
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To: GoLightly

Okay, Wikipedia says that the total population of Beirut is somewhere between 1.8 and 2.1 million, depending on whether or not you count the suburbs. Lebanon itself has only got 3.7 million people total.

So that's right around ONE QUARTER OF THE TOTAL POPULATION of the country who thought it was worth their time to take the day off of work or school or whatever, drive downtown, try to find parking, and yell their lungs out with 999,999 of their closest friends, just to send a friendly message to Bashar Assad that he should sod off and die or something.

I live in the fourth-largest city in Japan, Kyoto, total population about 1.5 million. I can't imagine anything that would make one-third of the people here all go to one place and holler like a bunch of rednecks, unless the Hanshin Tigers won the pennant again.

Man, these people REALLY want to be free, God bless 'em.


9 posted on 03/14/2005 8:02:39 PM PST by Father Jack (Confused, Stupid, and Documented)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

LOL! Damn straight these people are REAL 100% lebanese.

I love these people. They are so witty and educated in how to comunicate to TPTB that have the power to stand behind them (signs in English).


10 posted on 03/14/2005 8:03:31 PM PST by Soul Seeker
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To: Choose Ye This Day

This will have impact with the Mullahs in Tehran for sure!


11 posted on 03/14/2005 8:04:28 PM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach (This tagline no longer operative....floated away in the flood of 2005 ,)
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To: GoLightly

Thank You!


12 posted on 03/14/2005 8:06:38 PM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach (This tagline no longer operative....floated away in the flood of 2005 ,)
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To: Choose Ye This Day; All
Absolutey no way we allow these people to be murdered in the thousands with G.W. as our President. Which means Assad is going to have to give. Any other action will result in his permanent removal.

"Hezbollah organised a giant demonstration last Tuesday to intimidate us," Nada, 35, who travelled to Beirut from Zahle in the east, told AFP. "Today we're taking up the challenge and invite [Hezbollah] to join us because we represent the true majority of the country," she said.

Slam! Hezbollah revealed as orchestrating a sham protest! Humiliated because everyone in the world knows it was nothing but illusion.

13 posted on 03/14/2005 8:06:40 PM PST by Soul Seeker
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To: DevSix

My suggestion would fall more along the lines of their trying to report the news, rather than editorialize. Personally, I think headline editors are among the worst.


14 posted on 03/14/2005 8:19:48 PM PST by GoLightly
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To: Father Jack
Man, these people REALLY want to be free, God bless 'em.

Amen! An old Scorpion song has been gnawing away at the edge of my brain since the first large Lebanese protest, shades of the fall of the Eastern block.

15 posted on 03/14/2005 8:23:20 PM PST by GoLightly
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To: GoLightly; DevSix

It really annoys me that the MSM wants to turn all world events into a referendum on America. It's not. The Lebanese (like the Afghanis, the Iraqis and the Ukrainians before them) want to have a Democratic country. That's a point that Liberals want to argue, but events make their position rather dubious.
When we can make their path to Democracy easier, they will appreciate what we do. They've been educated to be skeptical about our intentions, and it's not unusual for oppressed people to believe we'd have the same evil intentions that their previous rulers did.
But when we can do something like pressure Syria to get out of Lebanon and let them have free elections, eventually they will see our good intentions. Maybe not tomorrow, but when they have a functioning gov't, they will.


16 posted on 03/14/2005 8:43:58 PM PST by speekinout
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To: speekinout; GoLightly; DevSix
Yahoo has an abundance of photos:

demonstrators beirut

17 posted on 03/14/2005 8:52:49 PM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach (This tagline no longer operative....floated away in the flood of 2005 ,)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

But Hariri's sister drew jeers from the crowd when she told them: "We will stand by Syria until its land is liberated and it regains its sovereignty on the [Israeli-] occupied Golan Heights."

This is big!! They try the old anti-Israel propaganda and it doesn't work. Because of GWB, Arabs are starting to care more about themselves and their own countries, and less about the Palestinians. This trend will continue as more and more Arabs realize that the supporters of Palestinian terror are also the suppressors of freedom in Arab counrtries.

A realistic goal is an Arab world that is not too crazy about Israel, but sober enough to accept it as a reality. This will only happen if the Arab world decides to step out of the middle ages and step into the 21st century.



18 posted on 03/14/2005 9:33:37 PM PST by The Fop (s)
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To: The Fop

You did not catch the "finesse" of Ms Hariri. Syria has been stirring trouble with Israel thru the lebanese border for decades while respecting a formal cease-fire at the syrian border with Israel!
Now that this mascarade is over, let Syria use its own border to flex muscle.


19 posted on 03/14/2005 10:19:10 PM PST by Patrick_k
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

Thanx for the heads up. I'm a real sucker for this kind of news.


20 posted on 03/14/2005 10:28:00 PM PST by GoLightly
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