LEBANON: ANTI-AMERICAN STUDENTS AND ORGANISATIONS RALLY AT U.S. EMBASSY AS HIZBOLLAH SAYS U.S. FOMENTING DIVISION IN LEBANON

Record ID: 215242

  • Title: LEBANON: ANTI-AMERICAN STUDENTS AND ORGANISATIONS RALLY AT U.S. EMBASSY AS HIZBOLLAH SAYS U.S. FOMENTING DIVISION IN LEBANON
  • Date: 24th March 2005
  • Summary: (BN12) AWKAR, NEAR BEIRUT; LEBANON (MARCH 22, 2005) (REUTERS) 1. PROTEST TAKING PLACE, PEOPLE HOLDING FLAGS 0.04 2. SOME PROTESTERS TRYING TO STAND ON EACH OTHER'S SHOULDERS 0.09 3. A 'NO ENTRY USA' SIGN BANNER IN THE CROWD OF PROTESTERS 4. VIEW OF THE PROTEST 5. BANNER IN ARABIC SAYING 'GEORGE BUSH IS A VAMPIRE' 6.
  • Embargoed: 8th April 2005 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: AWKAR, NEAR BEIRUT; BEIRUT; LEBANON
  • Country: Lebanon
  • Reuters ID: LVA2KFRTMBYIUM46Q0HY624VSX2L
  • Story Text: Anti American students and organisations rally at
    the U.S. embassy as Hizbollah says U.S. fomenting
    division in Lebanon.

    Lebanon's Hizbollah guerrillas accused Washington on
    Tuesday (March 22, 2005) of pitting Lebanese factions against
    each other under the banner of anti-Syrian opposition
    demands for "freedom, sovereignty and independence".

    Hundreds of pro-Syrian protesters gathered in front of
    the U.S. embassy near Beirut shouting "Death to America",
    burning U.S. flags and calling the United States "the Great
    Satan".

    Protesters in Awkar took to the streets waving anti
    American banners.

    "Where is democracy when America and France are
    interfering in Lebanon?" one protester said.

    Another man said Lebanon didn't need help from the
    United States.

    "I tell the American ambassador to leave Lebanon and live in
    freedom too. All the Lebanese citizens will reach
    understanding, and will reach dialogue without the American
    interference in Lebanon," the protester said.

    Political divisions in Lebanon deepened over the
    weekend when opposition leaders dismissed Syrian-backed
    President Emile Lahoud's call for talks between the two
    sides after a Beirut bomb injured 11 people and raised
    fears of further bloodshed.

    Buoyed by protests against Syria since the February 14
    killing of former prime minister Rafik al-Hariri,
    opposition leaders believe they can win elections due in
    May.

    Prime Minister Omar Karami is trying to put together a
    national unity government to lead Lebanon to elections due
    in May. But opposition figures have refused to join and say
    he must form a cabinet without them. Last month Karami
    resigned under opposition pressure but was reinstated to
    form a government.

    On Tuesday Syrian-backed Shi'ite Muslim group's leader,
    Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah met with Karami and told reporters
    in a news conference afterwards that America contradicts
    itself.

    "I believe that Satterfield (U.S. Deputy Assistant
    Secretary of State David Satterfield) will come and will
    have a full operation room at the American embassy to
    manage the Lebanese situation. Anyway, it is one of the
    scenes of the new sovereignty," he said.

    Nasrallah called again for dialogue, and defended
    Hizbollah's right to bear the arms it kept when other
    militias disarmed at the end of the 1975-90 civil war so it
    could fight Israel's occupation of southern Lebanon, which
    ended in 2000.

    Hizbollah's arms have come under the spotlight since
    Syria announced it would withdraw its troops from its tiny
    neighbour. The first phase of that pullout is now complete,
    and the second and final stage is to be negotiated in early
    April.

    Main opposition leader Walid Jumblatt said on Sunday
    the opposition was in dialogue with Hizbollah and also said
    disarming the guerrillas was a domestic issue.


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