Thousands of anti-Syrian demonstrators defied a government ban to stage a protest in central Beirut today, as parliament opened a fiery debate on the assassination of Lebanon's ex-prime minister.
Banks, schools and businesses closed, following an opposition call for a general strike to coincide with the debate on Rafik al-Hariri's assassination on February 14th in a car bombing that recalled Lebanon's civil war.
Hundreds of Lebanese soldiers with assault rifles fanned out in an otherwise deserted central Beirut. Metal barricades and barbed wire cut off roads to the scene of the protest and to parliament.
Army checkpoints on roads into Beirut turned away cars and buses carrying people into the capital to take part in the demonstration.
But soldiers took no action against demonstrators draped in Lebanese flags who had gathered overnight to stage a sit-in in Martyrs Square, near Hariri's grave. They let small groups join the protest, despite the official ban, but the crowd of a few thousand was far smaller than the tens of thousands that have marched over the past two weeks.
Protesters demanded the government resign and chanted "Syria out" and "Freedom, sovereignty, independence".
Syria plays a dominant role in Lebanon and maintains 14,000 troops there. Pressure has been growing within Lebanon and from abroad for a military withdrawal.
Opposition activists set up large television screens so protesters could watch the parliament session live while patriotic songs blared from loudspeakers.
Interior Minister Suleiman Franjieh yesterday had called on security forces "to take all necessary steps to preserve security and order and prevent demonstrations and gatherings on Monday".
Parliament opened deliberations over Hariri's killing with a minute's silence then, unusually, broke into the national anthem. Opposition MPs, wearing the red-and-white scarves that have come to symbolise their movement, planned to point the finger at the Syrian-backed authorities and call a no-confidence vote. The government has a majority and is likely to win.
Opposition deputies and many ordinary Lebanese hold Syria and the Lebanese authorities either directly or indirectly responsible for the deaths of Hariri and 17 others when a huge bomb blew apart his motorcade.
Damascus has denied any role in the killing and condemned it as terrorism.