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Syria denounced as Lebanon buries MP

Hundreds of people join the funeral procession for Lebanese member of parliament Walid Eido and his eldest son in Beirut yesterday. Eido, his son, two bodyguards and six passersby were killed by a car bomb on Wednesday. Supporters of Eido's Future Movement blame Syria for the murders. PHOTO: EPA

Angry mourners cried out against Syria yesterday at the funeral of prominent Member of Parliament (MP) Walid Eido, whose death in a Beirut bomb blast was the latest in a string of killings the ruling coalition has blamed on Damascus.

Eido was a vocal critic of the Syrian regime, and his assassination in a powerful seafront bombing on Wednesday stoked fears of instability in a country battling deep sectarian and political divisions.

About 1,000 people, led by parliamentary majority leaders Saad Hariri and Walid Jumblatt, marched from the family home toward a mosque in southeast Beirut for mid-day prayers and then burial in a nearby cemetery.

"With our soul, with our blood we shall redeem you Saad," chanted the mourners, many waving banners of Hariri and Eido's Future Movement.

"Beirut wants revenge on [pro-Syrian Lebanese President Emile] Lahoud and [Syrian President] Bashar [Assad]," cried the mourners marching behind ambulances carrying the coffins of Eido, his eldest son and a bodyguard who were killed with him.

Two bodyguards and six other people were killed in the blast, and another 11 people were wounded.

Eido's murder was roundly condemned as a "terrorist" act, with US President President George Bush accusing indirectly Syria of seeking to destabilize Lebanon's government, which faces a staunch Syrian-backed opposition.

"There has been a clear pattern of assassinations and attempted assassinations in Lebanon since October 2004," Bush said in a statement on Wednesday.

"Those working for a sovereign and democratic Lebanon have always been the ones targeted. The victims have always been those who sought an end to Syrian President Assad's interference in Lebanon's internal affairs," he said.

The murder will be the focus of crisis talks today in Cairo by Arab foreign ministers, following a request by Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora.

Security measures, already drastic due to a wave of bombings in the past two years, have been further boosted in Beirut.

Banks, shops and schools were closed for a day of mourning.

The 65-year-old judge and Beirut MP was a member of the Future Movement of MP Saad Hariri, whose father -- former prime minister Rafiq Hariri -- was assassinated in February 2005.

The ruling majority accuses Damascus of trying to block the creation of an international court to try suspects in the Hariri killing that forced Syria to end 29 years of military domination of Lebanon.

A preliminary UN investigation has implicated senior Syrian figures and their Lebanese allies in the killing. Damascus has strongly denied any involvement and vowed not to cooperate with the UN tribunal set up two weeks ago.

The ruling coalition accused Syria of seeking to eliminate members of the parliamentary majority, which has now been left with a margin of only five of the 126 living members of the house after a string of killings.

The attack on Eido, which police said was a bomb-rigged car detonated by remote control, was blamed on Syria by Saad Hariri, who called on the Arab League to "boycott the terrorist regime" targeting his country.

Telecommunication Minister Marwan Hamadeh said the killing was part of a "physical liquidation" campaign against the parliamentary majority by Syria to block the Hariri trial and upcoming president polls.
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