Hundreds of Lebanese living abroad demonstrated on Monday to protest the killing of former prime minister Rafik Hariri and demand the withdrawal of Syrian troops from their homeland.
Protesters gathered at Lebanese embassies in Sweden and Kuwait, and other demonstrations were planned in several European capitals and in Canada.
PHOTO: AP
In Paris, about 500 hundred people gathered outside the Lebanese Embassy, fewer than the 2,000 people expected by organizers.
But the leading Lebanese exile, former prime minister Michel Aoun, said he was "very happy with the demonstrations. The entire world is chanting the slogans of the Lebanese opposition."
"We are all very worked-up," said Nabil Nicolas, one of the organizers. "We want to show the solidarity of all Lebanese abroad by uniting political groups from all tendencies."
The demonstrators were showing their backing for opposition supporters in Lebanon, who came out in the tens of thousands on Monday to call for the resignation of their pro-Syrian government. The demonstrations marked a week since the assassination of Hariri, Lebanon's most prominent politician.
In Kuwait, around 500 Lebanese demonstrated near their country's embassy, while police cars blocked the street to the building. In front of a large poster of Hariri, they stood for a moment in silence and chanted the national anthem and called out "Freedom, sovereignty, independence."
Police in this small oil-rich state home to some 40,000 Lebanese tried to convince the crowd to disperse after about an hour, but they formed a demonstration on their way to their parked cars repeating the anti-Syrian slogans heard in Beirut.
In the Swedish capital, Stockholm, about 50 Lebanese immigrants and Swedes of Lebanese descent beat drums and chanted "Syria out of Lebanon!" in Swedish and Arabic.
Two men, wearing red and white scarves to keep them warm amid the falling snow, unfurled a banner that said "Independence Now!"
In London, about 300 people turned up for a demonstration organized by a group of students.
"We had the idea to do something, and sent e-mails and text messages to friends" said Sameer Madaad, one of the organizers.
Though no precise census has taken place in Lebanon since 1932, the country's population is estimated at 3.5 million. The number of Lebanese abroad could range from 500,000 -- those who still have links with their homeland -- to several million if including those who emigrated over the past century, most of them to the Americas.
Because of the precarious balance between Muslim and Christian communities instituted by the Lebanese constitution, the issue of citizenship, which would allow Lebanese abroad to vote in the country's elections, is a constant source of debate in Lebanon.
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