Saturday, February 10, 2007

March 14 Calls for Massive Gathering to Mark Hariri Murder

The March 14 coalition has called for a massive gathering on Wednesday to commemorate the second anniversary of the assassination of former premier Rafik Hariri in downtown Beirut where the Hizbullah-led Opposition is staging an ongoing sit-in.
"We call on the Lebanese who loved Rafik Hariri to commemorate the second anniversary with a massive gathering in Martyrs' Square in downtown Beirut," where Hariri was buried, said a statement issued after a meeting of the March 14 Forces on Friday at the mansion of Hariri's son, parliamentary majority leader Saad Hariri.

Security forces recently erected a fence slicing Martyrs' Square in half, in an apparent bid to prevent friction between pro- and anti-government supporters.

Street fighting between Opposition activists and pro-government followers across the country left nine people killed and 300 wounded two weeks ago.

The Opposition has been holding an open-ended sit-in since December 1 on the northern part of Martyr's Square and on the adjacent Riad Solh Square near Prime Minister Fouad Saniora's offices.

Hariri was killed along with 22 others in a massive bombing Feb. 14, 2005 that was widely blamed on Syrian officials and their Lebanese allies. Damascus denied any involvement.

The former five-time premier's murder led to domestic and international protests that forced Syria to end 29 years of military domination of Lebanon.(Naharnet-AFP)


Beirut, 10 Feb 07, 08:27

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