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Anti-Syrian protests mark Hariri?s funeral
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Anti-Syrian protests mark Hariri?s funeral
Tens of thousands of Lebanese, some chanting anti-Syrian slogans, marched yesterday in the funeral procession of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri, killed in a bombing opposition leaders blame on Damascus.
Men wept uncontrollably as the procession wound through Beirut streets plastered with posters of the Sunni Muslim billionaire slain in a suspected suicide car bombing on Monday. ?Syria out, Syria out?, the mourners shouted as people threw rice from balconies onto the ambulance carrying Hariri?s body.
The bombing revived memories of the 1975-90 civil war and spotlighted Lebanon?s troubled ties with its powerful neighbour Syria. It has also led to renewed international pressure led by the United States and France for Syria to quit Lebanon.
French President Jacques Chirac was due to fly to Beirut to present his condolences to Hariri?s family, Chirac?s office said. He appeared unlikely to arrive in time for the funeral.
Mosques blared prayers and church bells tolled across Beirut. The march, initially silent apart from the ambulance?s siren, erupted in shouts of ?Allahu Akbar (God is greatest)? and chants against Syria and its allies in Lebanon.
?Revenge, revenge on Lahoud and Bashar,? some mourners yelled, referring to Syrian-backed Lebanese President Emile Lahoud and his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad.
Hariri was to be buried in an unfinished mosque which he had financed in the heart of Beirut. Once a shattered battlefield, the area was rebuilt in a reconstruction drive that Hariri led.
?They feared you, they killed you,» read a banner near Hariri?s house. ?We are all shouting for Syria to get out. I want to kill someone today ? a Syrian?, one mourner said.
Several European and Arab ministers, along with EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, US Assistant Secretary of State William Burns and Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa, were among foreign dignitaries at the mosque for the burial.
The family had made clear that Lahoud and other pro-Syrian officials such as Prime Minister Omar Karami and Interior Minister Suleiman Franjieh would not be welcome.
Hariri?s emotional supporters declared allegiance to his businessman son Bahaa, urging him to take his political mantle.
?Relations are worsening?</B>
US President George W.Bush?s administration recalled its ambassador to Damascus on Tuesday for consultations to show its anger at Syria?s military and political domination of Lebanon.
US officials said they were considering new sanctions on Syria because of its refusal to withdraw its 14,000 troops from Lebanon and Washington?s belief that Damascus lets Palestinian militants and Iraqi insurgents operate on its soil.
?The Syrian government is unfortunately on a path right now where relations are not improving, but are worsening?, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in Washington. ?We will continue to consider what other options are at our disposal.?
The White House said it was too early to tell who assassinated Hariri. The Bush administration wants UN Security Council members to consider measures that could be taken against the perpetrators, said Richard Grenell, spokesman for the US mission to the United Nations.
Lebanese opposition figures did not hesitate to point an accusing finger at Damascus. ?This (Lebanese) regime is backed by the Syrians. This is the regime of terrorists and terrorism that was able yesterday to wipe out Rafik al-Hariri?, Druze leader Walid Jumblatt said on Tuesday. ?I charge the Lebanese-Syrian police regime with the responsibility for Hariri?s death.
Exiled former general Michel Aoun, a Maronite Christian and long-time foe of Syria, said Damascus was indirectly, if not directly, responsible for Hariri?s killing. Druze and Christian clerics joined the funeral march, where the red flags of Jumblatt?s party and the green cedar flags of its civil war Phalangist foes fluttered in the crowd.
Hariri, 60, the driving force behind an ambitious postwar reconstruction programme that left Lebanon heavily in debt, died in a bomb explosion that killed 14 others and wounded 135.
Franjieh, the interior minister, said investigators were almost sure a suicide car bomber had carried out the attack, which gouged a large crater in the middle of the road.
A previously unknown Islamist group said on Monday it had carried out the suicide attack against Hariri, who also held Saudi citizenship, because he supported the Saudi royal family.
Hariri resigned as prime minister in October after falling out with Syria over its role in extending the presidential term of Lahoud, his political rival. He then joined opposition leaders in calling for Syria to withdraw its troops and stop interfering in Lebanese affairs, as demanded by the UN Security Council.
?Hariri is a nationally loved leader. He rebuilt Beirut and Beirut loved him?, said Yahya Bahlawan, a weeping mourner carrying a picture of Hariri. ?He was a peaceful man.?
Tom PERRY
Lucy FIELDER
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