LEBANON FOR THE LEBANESE:

Huge Demonstration in Lebanon Demands End to Syrian Control (NEIL MacFARQUHAR, 3/15/05, NY Times)

Lebanon's anti-Syria opposition regained the momentum on Monday as hundreds of thousands of Lebanese jammed Beirut's central square to demand the end to Syrian control of their country .

Seemingly every available space in the heart of the city overflowed with people waving the red-and-white Lebanese flag, in a showing that easily rivaled a pro-Syria rally last Tuesday organized by the radical Shiite party Hezbollah.

"We don't want Syrian spies and secret police; we don't want any foreign intervention," said Noha Dahir, a veiled 18-year-old Sunni Muslim student who came by bus from the northern city of Tripoli. "Those Lebanese who want the Syrians to stay can go live in Syria. There are plenty of Lebanese here to fill the country."

The most notable element in the demonstration in Martyrs' Square was that it represented an exceedingly rare moment in which a broad cross section of Lebanese from every main sect - Christian, Druse, Shiite and Sunni Muslims - were all rubbing shoulders in the same space.

"They can say that they represent a wide spectrum of Lebanese factions, including some Shiites, and they have been able to bring the Sunnis into the streets, which is not easy," Ghassan Salamé, a former minister of culture and political science professor, said by telephone from Paris. "They have an upward momentum now after a week that was full of uncertainty."

The uncertainty stemmed from a mere misunderstanding of the Hezbollah rally--the question isn't about Syria but about who rules Lebanon next.

Posted by Orrin Judd at March 15, 2005 8:42 AM