KEY POINTS:
BEIRUT - Hundreds of Lebanese mourners have pressed to touch the coffin of minister Pierre Gemayel whose assassination, blamed by his allies on Syria, stoked fears of more killings and a surge in factional violence.
Anger and apprehension gripped the country as it prepared to bury Industry Minister Gemayel, a Christian gunned down as he drove through a Beirut suburb on Tuesday. He was the sixth anti-Syrian politician to be killed in nearly two years.
Anti-Syrian Lebanese leaders said Damascus was behind the killing and they expected the murders of more politicians who spearheaded protests that led to Syria's military withdrawal from Lebanon last year.
"It seems the Syrian regime will continue with the assassinations. I expect more assassinations but no matter what they do, we are here and we will be victorious," Druze leader Walid Jumblatt said.
Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora had written to him to ask the United Nations to help Beirut investigate Gemayel's assassination.
Siniora asked that Gemayel's murder be added to the ongoing UN inquiry into the February 2005 murder of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri, Annan told the Security Council in a letter asking it to "take appropriate action".
A UN investigation has implicated Lebanese and Syrian security officials in Hariri's murder. Syria denies any links.
Gemayel's murder also heightened tensions between the anti-Syrian government and the pro-Damascus opposition led by Hezbollah, the powerful Shi'ite Muslim guerrilla group determined to topple what it regards as a pro-US cabinet.
Syrian envoys denied the accusations of its involvement in the killing and joined the wave of international condemnation.
Support
US President George W. Bush called Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora to offer his support after the assassination and pledged "to support Lebanese independence from the encroachments of Iran and Syria", a White House spokesman said.
Bush also called Gemayel's father, former president Amin Gemayel, to offer condolences. The funeral will take place on Thursday and the anti-Syrian coalition urged a large turnout.
The 34-year-old's body was driven from a hospital near Beirut to his hometown of Bekfaya, northeast of the capital, where hundreds of weeping mourners walked behind the coffin, waving the white-and-green flags of his Phalange Party.
As the procession made its way to Gemayel's family home, women on balconies threw rice and flower petals. Hundreds scrambled to touch the coffin as it passed.
"What can I say? They killed the hero of heroes. They are killing Lebanon's dream. The suspicion points towards Syria," said Rizkallah Gemayel, 45.
Gemayel's supporters vented their anger at Syria. There was a security presence in Bekfaya and Christian neighbourhoods.
The Gemayel assassination followed a devastating July-August conflict in south Lebanon between Israeli forces and Hezbollah, which accused the pro-US government of backing its opponents in order to weaken the group as a political and military force.
- REUTERS
