Violence erupted in downtown Beirut yesterday as protesters tried to storm the offices of prime minister Najib Mikati after the funeral of an assassinated intelligence chief whose death they blame on Syria.

Notorious anti-Syrian Christian warlord Samir Geagea was released today after 11 years in prison, his spokeswoman said, in what marked the latest reconciliatory step in civil war-scarred Lebanon in the wake of the recent collapse of Syrian military dominance.