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Thousands attend Gemayel?s funeral
Gemayel?s supporters had called for a large turnout at the service at 1100 GMT, and troops are deployed across Beirut. Many Lebanese accuse Syria of involvement in Gemayel?s death, but Damascus rejects the claims. The UN Security Council has agreed to a request from Lebanon to help to investigate the murder. The Industry minister and Maronite Christian politician was shot in his car in a Christian area of Beirut. He was the fifth anti-Syrian Lebanese politician to be killed in two years, and his murder has intensified an acute political crisis in Lebanon. The death or resignation of two more cabinet ministers would bring down the government. US President George W Bush has pledged support for Lebanese independence from what he called the ?encroachments of Iran and Syria?.
<B>Flags and fury </B>
Crowds have gathered in Gemayel?s village ahead of his funeral, which comes amid three days of official mourning. Hundreds applauded as the 34-year-old?s coffin was borne through Bikfaya on its way to Beirut. Dozens of cars and buses followed the cortege, waving the large white flags of the politician?s right-wing Maronite Christian Phalange Party, and hooting their horns. In the capital, cars and buildings are draped with pictures of the politician. At the site of his death, supporters staged a candle-lit vigil amid party anthems on Wednesday night.
Gemayel?s supporters have vowed to stage a show of public outrage, and correspondents say the funeral is bound to be politically charged. His death comes amid a political crisis in Lebanon, following the resignation of six pro-Syrian cabinet members. Many Lebanese accuse Syria of involvement in the killing, which has sharpened tension between anti-Syrian forces, who back the government, and pro-Syrian groups like Hezbollah.
The UN commission already looking into the murder of ex-Lebanese PM Rafik Hariri in 2005 will take on the inquiry into Gemayel?s killing.
Correspondents say such a tribunal is highly controversial in Lebanon. Pro-Syrian politicians are against it and it cannot begin to be set up until the Lebanese parliament votes for it. Bush has not specifically blamed Iran or Syria for Mr Gemayel?s murder but he has called for a full investigation to identify ?those people and those forces? behind the killing. A recent UN report implicated Syria in Hariri?s death, although Syria has denied involvement.
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CHRONOLOGY
Events in Lebanon since Hariri?s killing </B>
● Feb. 14, 2005 ? Hariri and 22 others are killed by truck bomb in Beirut.
● Feb. 16 ? At least 150,000 Lebanese turn Hariri?s funeral into outpouring of anger against Syria.
● Feb. 28 ? Pro-Syrian Prime Minister Omar Karami resigns.
● March 5 ? Syrian President Bashar al-Assad tells his parliament Syrian troops will start phased pullout from Lebanon.
● April 26 ? Last Syrian soldiers leave Lebanon.
● June 16 ? UN.probe into Hariri?s killing starts.
● June 19 ? Lebanese parliamentary elections end in victory for anti-Syrian alliance led by Hariri?s son Saad al-Hariri.
● June 21 ? Former Communist Party leader and critic of Syria George Hawi is killed in Beirut by bomb in his car.
● Aug. 30 ? Four pro-Syrian former security chiefs are detained over Hariri?s killing and later charged with murder.
● Oct. 12 ? Syrian state news agency SANA announces that Interior Minister Ghazi Kanaan has committed suicide in his office in Damascus just days after UN investigators went to Damascus to interview Syrian officials.
● Oct. 20 ? UN investigators say high-ranking Syrian officials and their Lebanese allies were involved in Hariri?s killing, in report to UN.Security Council.
● Dec. 12 ? Gebran Tueni, staunchly anti-Syrian member of parliament and Lebanese newspaper magnate, is killed by a car-bomb in Beirut.
● Feb. 11, 2006 ? Saad al-Hariri returns to Lebanon more than six months after he left because of security worries. Three days later around 500,000 gather to mark the first anniversary of his father?s assassination.
● July 12 ? Hezbollah captures two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid. At least 1,200 people in Lebanon and 157 Israelis were killed in the ensuing 34 days of fighting.
● Oct. 31 ? Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah vows to stage peaceful protests demanding fresh elections unless his opponents agree to a national unity government by mid-November.
● Nov. 13 ? A depleted cabinet, made up of mainly anti-Syrian ministers, approves draft UN statutes for a tribunal to try Rafik al-Hariri?s suspected killers.
● Nov. 21 ? Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel is killed by gunmen as his convoy drives through the Christian Sin el-Fil neighbourhood of Beirut. Hours later, Security Council approves tribunal plans.
● Nov. 23 ? Thousands gather in central Beirut to pay tribute to Gemayel, turning his funeral into a protest against Syria and its Hezbollah allies.
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