Calls have intensified for Rafik Hariri’s assassins to be caught, while pressure mounted against Syria amid increasing speculation over its perceived role in the killing of Lebanon’s popular former prime minister, whose burial was attended by more than 200,000 mourners.

MORE than 200,000 Lebanese people took to the streets of Beirut yesterday in a demonstration of mourning for their former premier and an expression of hatred for Syria, whom they accuse of being behind his assassination.

Thousands of chanting, flag-waving mourners gathered today in an emotion-charged prelude to the funeral procession for slain ex-premier Rafik Hariri, the man credited with rebuilding post-civil war Lebanon and seen as quietly opposing Syrian influence in his country’s affairs.