Caretaker Lebanese prime minister Saad al-Hariri today called for calm and said he rejected all froms of violence after his supporters took to the streets in protest against Hizbullah's nomination of Najib Mikati to form a new government.
"My call for you is a national call. You are angry but you are responsible people. I understand your feelings," he told supporters in a televised speech.
"This anger should not lead us to what disagrees with our values . . . our belief that democracy is our refuge," he said.
Hizbullah and its allies won support yesterday to nominate their candidate for Lebanon's prime minister, giving them the upper hand in attempts to form a government and sparking accusations of a pro-Iranian coup.
Telecoms tycoon Najib Mikati, backed by a Hizbullah-led coalition, looked set to be asked to form a government after the first of two days of consultations among Lebanese politicians.
Mr al-Hariri, whose government collapsed earlier this month, said he and his group would not serve in an administration dominated by Hizbullah, and Hariri supporters in north Lebanon called for a "day of anger".
"As for the coup that Hizbullah is carrying out, it is an attempt to put the office of prime minister under the control of Wilayat al Fakih (Iran's clerical authority)", Hariri loyalist Mustafa Alloush said in the northern city of Tripoli.
Lebanon's power-sharing political system calls for the post of prime minister to be held by a Sunni and Hariri supporters said any figure who accepted a mandate from Hizbullah to form a new government would be considered a traitor.
Hariri supporters protested in several cities yesterday, blocking streets in Tripoli, burning tyres to cut the main north-south highway outside the southern town of Sidon, and demonstrating in Beirut before they were dispersed by security forces. The road to Syria through the Bekaa Valley was also cut.
The United States, which has designated Hizbullah a terrorist organisation, said a big role for the Shia militant group could complicate Washington's ties with Lebanon and affect US aid. Hizbullah says the United States sabotaged earlier mediation talks between Hariri and Hizbullah.
Hizbullah and its allies walked out of Mr Hariri's unity government on January 12th in a dispute over still confidential indictments by a UN-backed tribunal investigating the 2005 killing of statesman Rafik al-Hariri, the prime minister's father.
The political deadlock has deepened sectarian divisions in Lebanon and the prospect of a government formed by Hizbullah will alarm Israel, which fought a month-long, inconclusive war with Hizbullah in 2006.
Israeli vice prime minister Silvan Shalom said at the weekend there was a danger that an "Iranian government" would be established in Lebanon. He said Hizbullah "would no longer be merely a terrorist group operating with Iran's backing, but a terrorist group in control of the country".
Agencies