Lebanon govt defiant as protesters up pressure

Supporters of Lebanese Christian opposition leader Michel Aoun hold up his portrait in downtown Beirut yesterday. Lebanese opposition demonstrators led by the pro-Syrian militant group Hezbollah camp outside Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora's offices for the third consecutive day, chanting for his departure. PHOTO: AFP

Thousands of protesters from Hezbollah and its allies spent a second night in a tent city in central Beirut, within earshot of the office-turned-residence of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora.

"We are not letting them (ministers) sleep, we're disturbing them with our noise. We have the resilience to stay not for one month, but a year or two," said Ahmed Kayello, 20, from south Lebanon, sitting on a grassy slope.

Breakfast vendors parked on pavements, some protesters read newspapers, and long queues formed behind portable latrines, a morning after thousands of protesters chanted "Beirut is free, Siniora out," during a late Saturday night rally.

The opposition led by Hezbollah, which is backed by Syria and Iran, has been demanding effective veto power in the government whose majority is composed of anti-Syrian politicians.

But these politicians insist the opposition only wants to weaken the government and delay a UN tribunal, which would try suspects in the 2005 slaying of ex-premier Rafik al-Hariri.

A preliminary UN inquiry has implicated Syrian and Lebanese security officials.

Six opposition ministers resigned from cabinet after the talks on national unity collapsed. Nevertheless, the depleted government approved plans for the tribunal, which served as a catalyst for the latest protests.

The cabinet was also weakened by the November 21 assassination of anti-Syrian minister Pierre Gemayel. A mass for Gemayel's killing was conducted at the Governmental Palace which Siniora and other anti-Syrian politicians attended.

"We assure the Lebanese that change is coming soon. A national unity government will be achieved," Hezbollah member of parliament Hussein Haj Hassan told the group's al-Manar television from the camp city.

Siniora, who has vowed he would not be forced out by the protests, has won expressions of support from Arab and Western countries, including the United States, Britain and Germany.

Meanwhile, Israel is keeping a close watch of the political crisis in Lebanon where the Hezbollah-led campaign to bring down the government is likely to impact the Jewish state, senior officials said Sunday.

The tense standoff in Beirut, where the Shiite militant group Hezbollah and allies are trying to bring down Prime Minister Fuad Siniora's government, was a focus of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's weekly cabinet meeting.

"Israel is closely following developments in Lebanon," Olmert told ministers, according to a senior government official.