LEBANON: BEIRUT RALLY DEFEND SHI'ITE SACRED SITES IN IRAQ

Record ID: 215401

  • Title: LEBANON: BEIRUT RALLY DEFEND SHI'ITE SACRED SITES IN IRAQ
  • Date: 21st May 2004
  • Summary: (U6)BEIRUT, LEBANON (MAY 21, 2004) (REUTERS) 1. TOPSHOT OF PROTESTERS IN SOUTHERN SUBURBS OF BEIRUT CARRYING HIZBULLAH FLAGS 0.08 2. WIDE OF PROTESTERS IN SOUTHERN SUBURBS OF BEIRUT WITH SOME CARRYING PICTURE OF HIZBOLLAH SECRETARY GENERAL SAYYED HASSAN NASRALLAH 0.12 3. VARIOUS OF DEMONSTRATORS MARCHING, SHOUTING SLOGANS 0.27 4. SL
  • Embargoed: 5th June 2004 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BEIRUT, LEBANON
  • Country: Lebanon
  • Reuters ID: LVADWR9RWI6SJ5Y76Z4AI687RDWL
  • Story Text: Massive rally on streets of Beirut to defend
    Shiite sacred sites in Iraq


    More than half a million people marched the streets
    of the Southern suburbs of Beirut Friday (May 21, 2004) in a
    rally to defend the holy Muslim sites in Iraq. The march
    followed accusations against the United States of
    desecrating holy shrines in Najaf and Karbala.

    The rally, according to Hizbullah's TV Al Manar, is one
    of the largest in Lebanon's history.

    Hizbullah's Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nassrallah
    had called (in a speech on May 18, 2004) all Muslims to
    join a mass protest on Friday. Thousands of demonstrators
    turned up, many wearing their Kafan or "grave clothes", a
    traditional white scarf worn across the shoulders as
    symbol of readiness for martyrdom.

    The demonstrators' white grave-clothes represent the
    protesters' eagerness for Jihad, or holy warand
    martyrdom to protect the sacred region.

    The demonstrators also carried Hizbullah and Lebanese
    flags and repeated slogans such as "Death to America".

    Nasrallah also gave a speech at the rally calling all Arabs
    and Muslims to defend the holy shrines of Islam, from
    Palestine to Iraq, and exhorted U.S. troops to pull out of
    the holy cities in Iraq. He also called for all Arabs to
    unite to face what he referred to as their enemies, Israel
    and the United States of America.


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