Lebanon Marks Anniversary of Hariri's Murder with New Cedar Revolt
Lebanese flocked to Martyrs' Square Tuesday to mark the first anniversary of former Prime
Minister Rafik Hariri's assassination, carrying great hopes to recreate the Cedar
Revolution that took the country by storm a year ago.
Crowds waving Lebanese flags started gathering in the early morning in downtown Beirut.
Thousands of army troops and policemen, backed by armored vehicles, blocked off the roads
leading to the center of the city and searched people as they went through their security
lines.
Tens of thousands are expected to participate in the commemoration dubbed as
"gathering of loyalty and unity." The organizers are hoping to recreate the same
momentum as the March 14 protest when 1 million flag-waving Lebanese converged on Martyrs'
Square to pressure Syria to withdraw and demand an international investigation of the
assassination of Hariri.
All anti-Syrian groups known as the March 14 alliance are expected to have a strong
showing. The largest members of the group are Saad Hariri's Future Movement, Walid
Jumblat's Progressive Socialist Party and Samir Geagea's Lebanese Forces representing
Lebanon's Sunni Muslim, Druze and Christian communities.
Forces outside the alliance including Gen. Michel Aoun's Free Patriotic Movement and the
two Shiite parties Amal and Hezbollah will only send political representatives.
The FPM was a key member of the anti-Syria coalition that drove Damascus' forces out of
Lebanon last year. However, relations between Aoun and the remaining members of the
alliance have been tense especially in light of a recent cooperation agreement he signed
with the Party of God.
At 12:55 the crowd will observe a moment of silence in memory of Hariri and the 22 other
people who died in the fateful blast on Beirut's seaside Corniche a year ago. One of the
victims was former Trade and Economy Minister Bassel Fleihan who survived the bombing but
died from severe burns two months later.
Later, leaders of the March 14 coalition will address the crowd. An Nahar said Saad
Hariri, who took on his father's political mantle, will give a speech that will be
broadcast on television and aired on a huge screen in Martyrs' Square.
Saad returned home at the weekend after six months in exile due to security concerns to
issue an emotional appeal for a massive turnout for Tuesday's anniversary of his father's
murder as a show of Lebanese unity.
The anniversary "will be a day of a renewal of faith in the unity of Lebanon",
Hariri told a press conference.
"I call on all Lebanese to adopt a historic position of unity on this day to show
that our national unity is above all else and that the forces of March 14 will remain
united," he added.
The crowds will gather at Hariri's gravesite at al Amin mosque overseeing Martyrs' Square,
popularly renamed Freedom Square after his death.
Beirut has been adorned with billboards in honor of Hariri, a five-time billionaire
premier who played a major role in the reconstruction of Beirut after the 1975-1990 civil
war. "We miss you," one of them reads.
Restaurants and hotels in Beirut marked St Valentine's Day three days early this year so
as not to clash with the Hariri commemoration. Florists reported a rush on roses both for
lovers and to be placed on Hariri's tomb.
Beirut, Updated 14 Feb 06, 09:42