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Tens of thousands of Lebanese poured into central Beirut to pay tribute to murdered Christian leader Pierre Gemayel today, turning his funeral into a show of strength against Syria and its Hizbollah allies.
Sunni Muslim, Druze and Christian leaders have accused Syria of killing Gemayel, scion of one of Lebanon's most prominent Maronite families. Damascus has condemned the assassination.
Crowds waving the flags of Lebanon and of Gemayel's Phalange Party packed Martyrs' Square in Beirut before the funeral at 1pm (2400 NZT) in the St George Maronite Cathedral.
Thousands of soldiers and police were deployed in the capital, which came to a standstill. Shops, schools, banks and Government offices were closed to let people join the mourning.
Angry crowds carried slogans calling on Syrian-backed Lebanese President Emile Lahoud to resign. "Bashar agent get out of Baabda [palace]," one banner read, referring to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Gemayel, 34, was shot dead on Wednesday, the sixth killing of an anti-Syrian figure in less than two years in Lebanon, a cockpit for regional conflicts and rivalries for decades.
The country was already in the midst of a political crisis over efforts by Syrian- and Iranian-backed Hizbollah to clip the wings of the ruling anti-Syrian majority coalition, which the Shi'ite Muslim group regards as Washington's puppet. Anti-Syrian leaders say Damascus had Gemayel killed to try to derail plans for an international tribunal to try suspects in the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri.
Early reports of an UN inquiry into the Hariri killing implicated Syrian security officials and their Lebanese counterparts. Syria denies involvement.
The UN Security Council approved on Thursday a Lebanese Government request to add the Gemayel killing to the string of previous attacks the UN inquiry is investigating.
"Only the international tribunal protects us" and "Lebanon means life" read banners held by mourners in Beirut.
Hariri's son Saad, Druze leader Walid Jumblatt and Christian Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea urged people to attend ceremonies for the son of former President Amin Gemayel and the nephew of Bashir Gemayel, killed in 1982 after he was elected president.
Gemayel's cortege was driving from his mountain home town of Bekfaya to downtown Beirut, where mass protests after Hariri's assassination helped end Syria's 29-year military presence in Lebanon.
Jumblatt said on Thursday Gemayel's killing marked the resumption of political killings. "It seems the Syrian regime will continue with the assassinations," he said.
Anti-Syrian leaders say the assassination was aimed at weakening a Government opposed to Damascus' influence in Lebanon, and which took power after Syrian troops withdrew.
The Government, keen to ensure the international tribunal is established, would fall if it lost two more ministers.
The Cabinet has been weakened by the resignation of six ministers from the Syrian-backed opposition led by Hizbollah. They quit after the collapse of all-party talks on forming a government.
Hizbollah had pledged street protests aimed at toppling the Government but Gemayel's killing has disrupted those plans.
"It can't stage a demonstration now.
"It would be widely read as a pro-Syrian demonstration as opposed to an anti-Government demonstration," Hizbollah expert Amal Saad Ghorayeb said.
- REUTERS
