Tens of thousands of people swarmed into Beirut yesterday to commemorate the murder two years ago of Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri, with tensions running high after deadly bus bombings.
Troops backed by tanks were out in force across the greater Beirut area for the highly-charged event as government supporters flocked from around the country to Hariri's grave on Martyrs' Square.
Security was tight because of fears of possible confrontation as the demonstrators massed in the square where pro-Syrian opposition activists have been holding an around-the-clock sit-in since late last year.
PHOTO: AP
Tens of thousands thronged the square, carrying candles, flags and balloons in the blue color of the political party now headed by Hariri's son, parliamentary leader Saad Hariri.
Roads leading to Beirut were clogged by convoys of vehicles loaded with people, who then walked the last 5km to reach Martyrs' Square on foot.
Prime Minister Fuad Siniora, once a close aide to Hariri, led prayers at the slain billionaire's grave where officials, religious leaders and supporters were taking turns to pay their homage.
The anniversary comes at a time of acute political crisis in the deeply divided country with the Hezbollah-led opposition demanding the resignation of the anti-Syrian cabinet to make way for a government of national unity and fresh elections.
Government forces have erected a barbed-wire fence in Beirut to separate the two camps which engaged in street fights last month that left seven dead.
Tensions were also running high after three people were killed and 18 wounded when bomb blasts tore through two buses in a mountainous Christian area northeast of Beirut on Tuesday.
"We came in defiance of those planting bombs," said Hariri supporter Omar Qabbani.
"We want to live. All Lebanese people should rise up to stop this cycle of terrorism," said Nadia Saikali, a housewife from the Christian neighborhood of Ashrafiyeh in Beirut.
Tuesday's bombings were the latest in a series of attacks blamed on Lebanon's former powerbroker Syria, which also stands accused of orchestrating the massive bomb blast that killed Hariri and 22 others on the Beirut seafront on Feb. 14, 2005.
"We consider that the Syrian regime bears full responsibility for this odious crime," said a statement by the ruling coalition known as March 14.
"[Damascus] is trying to destroy Lebanon's peace and security in order to abort the creation of the international tribunal," it said, referring to plans for a UN court to try suspects into Hariri's murder.
A UN probe has fingered senior Syrian officials over Hariri's assassination but the opposition is blocking plans for the tribunal and six pro-Syrian ministers quit in November over the issue.
Anger at the murder triggered national and international protests which culminated in a rally at Martyrs' Square on March 14, 2005, when an estimated 1 million people turned out.
The protests helped force the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon the following month, ending Damascus's three-decade long military domination of its smaller neighbor and bringing an anti-Syrian movement to power.
Leaders from both sides said the bus attacks were all the more reason to work to end divisions.
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