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Nearly a million lebanese tell syria to leave { March 15 2005 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/03/15/MNG8VBPILU1.DTLhttp://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/03/15/MNG8VBPILU1.DTL
Nearly a million Lebanese tell Syria to leave
- Neil MacFarquhar, New York Times
Tuesday, March 15, 2005
Beirut -- Lebanon's anti-Syria opposition regained momentum on Monday as almost a million Lebanese jammed Beirut's central square to demand the end to Syrian control of their country.
Seemingly every available space around the heart of the city overflowed with people waving the red-and-white Lebanese flag, in a showing that easily rivaled a pro-Syria rally last Tuesday organized by the radical Shiite party Hezbollah.
"We don't want Syrian spies and secret police; we don't want any foreign intervention," said Noha Dahir, a veiled 18-year-old Sunni Muslim student who came by bus from the northern city of Tripoli. "Those Lebanese who want the Syrians to stay can go live in Syria. There are plenty of Lebanese here to fill the country."
The most notable element in the demonstration in Martyrs' Square was that it represented an exceedingly rare moment in which a broad cross section of Lebanese from every main sect -- Christian, Druze, and Shiite and Sunni Muslims -- were all rubbing shoulders in the same space.
"They can say that they represent a wide spectrum of Lebanese factions, including some Shiites, and they have been able to bring the Sunnis into the streets, which is not easy," Ghassan Salame, a former minister of culture and political science professor, said by telephone from Paris. "They have an upward momentum now after a week that was full of uncertainty."
In the main mosque, still under construction, demonstrators even crammed the tiny balconies hundreds of feet up on the four minarets, vestiges of a time when the call to prayer was done orally. A few daredevils inched their way out along a huge construction crane looming over the building to drape a Lebanese flag at the end.
The opposition experienced some doubts about the extent of its appeal after the Hezbollah demonstration in a nearby square in downtown Beirut last Tuesday. There have been rallies in the city center every Monday since former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was assassinated Feb. 14, but organizers were determined to make this one especially large in response to the pro-Syrian march.
"This will counterbalance last Tuesday, and now we can sit and talk," said Mazen al-Zain, a 30-year-old financial analyst, noting that he himself was a member of an illustrious Shiite clan from southern Lebanon. "What is really important after today's gathering is that we all sit down at the same table."
The presence of such a large number of Lebanese put added pressure on the government of Syria to announce a firmer timetable for the withdrawal of both its thousands of troops and its secret police officers in the country. Although Syrian President Bashar Assad has promised to withdraw into the Bekaa region by the end of March and to hold a further discussion with a joint Lebanese-Syrian commission in early April, there is still no clear timetable for withdrawing completely.
The United States and other Western nations have said they want all Syrians out before new parliamentary elections, tentatively scheduled for May, and many Lebanese experts say they believe that the Syrians may be dragging their feet to influence the choice of a new parliament.
There were numerous calls on Monday for Lebanese President Emile Lahoud to resign, although it is not a broad demand by the opposition. It would rather wait to try to gain a majority in parliament, which chooses the president. Since there is no Cabinet now, as Prime Minister Omar Karami tries to form one, many feel that the country cannot afford to be without a president.
Participants in Monday's protest were convinced that the size of the opposition meant that the withdrawal was only a matter of time.
Speaking of the Syrians, Samer Khoury, 32, a manager in the Virgin megastore overlooking Martyrs' Square, said, "They are trying to prove they are still strong to their nation while they are retreating."
The store's former parking lot is now the burial place of Hariri and the bodyguards who died with him in a huge car bombing. Honoring his memory was a key draw for many of the participants.
The demonstration turned into an all-day affair, with participants gathering in midmorning, hours before the official 3 p.m. starting time, and the last speakers still going strong at 6 p.m. Banks and schools closed early, and offices around the capital emptied, all swelling the crowds, which were so thick that many demonstrators fainted.
Marwan Hamade, the first speaker, a Druze member of parliament who survived a car bomb in October, addressed some of his words to Hariri, the slain former prime minister.
"Your dream came true today, and the horrendous crime failed," he said, before going on to repeat the opposition demand that all the leaders of the half-dozen intelligence agencies resign for their failure to protect Hariri. Given the close ties such organizations keep with Syria, many Lebanese suspect that one or more of the secret services might have had a hand in the crime.
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