‘Syria out’ chant 200,000 Lebanese 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.

In an unprecedented outpouring of grief and anger, mourners shouted “Syria out” as they crowded the Lebanese capital’s streets to bury Rafik Hariri. The country’s pro-Syrian president stayed away, warned not to come by Hariri supporters who blame Damascus for his death.

In Syria, government officials stayed silent as US and UN pressure continued to mount. The assassination “angered the international community, and this requires that we shed the light on this heinous, indescribable act”, said French President Jacques Chirac, a friend of Mr Hariri’s who flew to Beirut to offer his condolences.

The US representative at the funeral, Assistant Secretary of State William Burns, called again on Syria to withdraw its troops - a further increase in US-Syrian tensions a day after Washington recalled its ambassador from Damascus.

“Mr Hariri’s death should give - in fact it must give - renewed impetus to achieving a free, independent and sovereign Lebanon,” Burns said after a meeting later in the day with Lebanon’s foreign minister. “And what that means is the complete and immediate withdrawal by Syria of all of its forces in Lebanon.”

Along the funeral route through Beirut, mourners hung Lebanese flags from balconies and held aloft pictures of the former prime minister, who was assassinated by a bomb that killed 16 others on Monday.

A huge crowd gathered at Hariri’s house, then marched for two hours behind the ambulance carrying his coffin to the towering Mohammed al-Amin Mosque in central Beirut, which the billionaire built and where he was buried.

An estimated 200,000 people gathered around the mosque for the noon funeral prayers, hanging from scaffolding and street lights to catch a glimpse of the coffin, draped in Lebanon’s red, white and green flag.