Tensions rise as Lebanese mourn murder of Gemayel

Published on Friday 24 November 2006 11:53

HUNDREDS of thousands of Lebanese flooded Beirut city centre to mourn an assassinated Christian politician and vent their anger at Syria.

Observers believe the country could be gearing up for a potentially explosive fight over power with the radical Hezbollah faction and other allies of Damascus.

Church bells tolled and women threw flowers and rice on Pierre Gemayel's coffin, draped in the flag of his Phalange Party, as it was passed hand-to-hand over the dense crowd of mourners outside St Georges Cathedral yesterday.

Nearby, in Martyrs' Square, a throng of supporters, estimated at 800,000 by police, turned the funeral into a mass show of force in support of the beleaguered US-backed government.

Amid a sea of Lebanese flags, demonstrators chanted slogans against Syria, which they accuse of killing 34-year-old politician Mr Gemayel, and burned pictures of Syrian president Bashar Assad and his top ally in Lebanon, president Emile Lahoud.

"We want revenge - from Lahoud and Bashar," the crowd chanted.