LEBANON:Opposition supporters are prepared for the long haul in their tented city, writes Michael Jansenin Beirut
Offices, shops and cafes in the commercial centre of the Lebanese capital are shut, and green veils cover the facades of buildings under construction while workers hammer within. Streets leading to the main squares are sealed off with coils of razor wire, and armoured scout cars stand guard at intersections.
The heart of Beirut, rebuilt by slain premier Rafiq al-Hariri, has been captured by opponents to the government dominated by his successor, Fouad Siniora.
A week ago tens of thousands of opposition supporters flowed into the area and set up a collection of tent camps stretching from the top of Martyrs' Square through Riad Solh Square to the foot of the hill topped by the handsome Ottoman-era Serai, which houses government offices.
"More than 9,000 protesters live in 650 tents," says Abu Yasser, a member of the co-or- dinating committee which is headquartered in a tent opposite the mosque where Mr Hariri is entombed. "We will stay here until our demands are met. Absolutely! We are preparing the tents for the rains." He points to ground sheets and wooden frames piled on the pavement outside. Food is provided by restaurants. White chemical toilets are grouped at convenient points. Water is brought in by lorries.
"We want a national unity government. This is our demand." He dismisses the idea that the mass protest is meant to scupper the international tribunal soon to be established to try those charged with the assassination of Mr Hariri. "We've agreed to the tribunal but we want to be consulted on its make-up and mandate," he says.
"The majority in the [ current] government have approved, but the majority of Lebanese are not represented by this govern- ment." He also dismisses the support Germany, France and the US are giving the government. "We need the support of the Lebanese only. We are from all over Lebanon, from Khiam in the south, Baalbek in the east, Tripoli in the north. We are from all sects."
As the sun sinks behind the Serai, protesters stream into the cordoned-off area and patriotic music blares from lorries. One song proclaims, We are all one nation, Sunnis, Shias and Christians. The statue of Lebanon's first prime minister, Riad Solh, fez on his head, a Lebanese flag fluttering from his hand, bows to a full-length portrait of Mr Hariri on a huge banner hung on a building at the end of the square.
Both men were martyrs to Lebanon's domestic disputes. Young men sit outside their tents smoking water pipes; gaggles of teenage girls with flags wrapped round their shoulders stroll slowly round the encampment. A group of five-year-olds colour placards outside a tent where Shia women wearing black cloaks and older children are delivering and listening to short speeches on the purpose of the protest.
An independent bystander remarks proudly: "This is democracy. We need change. We need to break the deadlock" between the government and the opposition.
While the Lebanese flag flies over the tent compounds, some also sport the banners and posters of the Free Patriotic Movement or the Marada, two Maronite Catholic parties; the Greek Orthodox Syrian National Socialist Party, the Communists, and the Nasserites.
There are few yellow-and- black Hizbullah flags on display but a great many Hizbullah monitors in white peaked caps making certain there is no violence.
Although Hizbullah is the only party with a militia trained and armed to fight, civil war would pose a great danger to the movement as well as threaten the very existence of the country.
Two women students from the Catholic Université St Joseph, Layal Mrjed and Farah Itani, are sitting on the kerb smoking water pipes and watching the multitude gather for the evening's festivities. They are wearing orange scarves identifying them as Free Patriotic Movement activists.
The leader of the party, Gen Michel Aoun, was the head of the anti-Syrian front at the end of the 1975-90 civil war; now he stands with the opposition characterised by the government and its foreign backers as "pro-Syrian". Alliances of convenience are not only the mainstay of Lebanon's confessional politics but also cross confessional lines.
Independent pollster Abdo Saad says his latest opinion survey, based on a sampling of 5,000 respondents from all communities, shows that 58.5 per cent back the opposition while 41.5 per cent are for the government.
More than 70 per cent favour the formation of a national unity government, in which the opposition, which has 45 per cent of seats in parliament, would have nine out of 24 portfolios - or 37 per cent.
"The opposition insists that demonstrations will carry on as long as it takes to achieve its aims. There can be no retreat." So far, mediators have failed to reconcile government and opposition. In the view of a diplomat, "The Lebanese would be able to reach a deal if outsiders would stop meddling."