Thousands of Lebanese and Palestinians took to the streets across Lebanon today to express support for the Palestinian revolt against Israel, on the eve of an Arab summit that they fear will disown it.
"I want the Intifada to continue," said a Palestinian who was one about 5,000 demonstrators who marched through Beirut, many carrying pictures of Palestinian President Mr Yasser Arafat.
Police sealed off streets by the prime minister's office, as projectors beamed images from the uprising, including pictures of Palestinians killed in clashes with Israeli forces.
Thousands of people took to the streets for similar demonstrations in the southern port city of Sidon and in the northern city of Tripoli, where at least 2,000 marched through the city centre.
The protests came as delegates began to arrive for the March 27th-28th Arab League summit, which is expected to focus on a Saudi initiative offering normalised Arab ties with Israel in exchange for withdrawal from land seized in the 1967 Middle East war.
The initiative has won international praise as a means of helping end 18 months of Israeli-Palestinian bloodshed, but is suspect in the eyes of many Palestinians who feel the uprising is their best hope of attaining a state.