BEIRUT (Agencies)
Huge crowds turned out Friday for the funeral of Lebanese MP Antoine Ghanem, while the ruling majority pleaded for international protection against “a new war from Syria”.
The assassination of the anti-Syria MP Wednesday has stirred fears of more instability in the tense run-up to the key presidential vote, with an initial session planned for next week.
Church bells tolled and thousands of mourners clapped as the lawmaker's coffin and those of his two slain bodyguards were carried by pallbearers into the packed Sacred Heart church in the Christian district of Badaro, east of Beirut.
A brass band played Ghanem's political party anthem as hundreds of mourners carried flags while they walked down the packed street in Beirut.
Family and friends, along with prominent political leaders from the ruling majority and foreign diplomats, stood somberly in the Maronite Catholic church as the three coffins, draped in Lebanese flags, were placed near the altar.
Women threw rice and rose petals from balconies when the cortege made its way from the morgue of the Lebanese Canadian hospital, near the site of Wednesday's bomb blast that killed Ghanem and four others, to the Furn el-Shebak neighbourhood near Badaro.
It was the second assassination to hit the Phalange party in the past 12 months. Industry minister Pierre Gemayel was killed last November. |
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Political Deadlock Meanwhile, leaders from all sides of the political spectrum have vowed to go ahead with the presidential vote scheduled for next Tuesday despite the assassination which drew condemnation from around the world.
The election comes amid political deadlock between the Western-backed cabinet and the pro-Damascus opposition.
In a statement Thursday, the anti-Syrian parliamentary majority appealed to the world to protect Lebanon from what they said was a "new war" by Syria to undermine their country.
The statement further called on the Arab League and the Security Council to take measures to ensure the presidential election.
U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon, on his part, has warned that the naming of two rival governments in Lebanon would be the "worst case scenario" and called for the timely election of a new president, in an interview with Beirut's An-Nahar newspaper.
Pro-government MPs in Beirut have pointed a finger of blame at
Syria, which denied any involvement and said the bombing was a "criminal act" aimed at undermining efforts at a rapprochement with Lebanon.
Hezbollah, the leading party in the opposition, said the assassination was "a blow to the country's security and stability as well as any attempt at reconciliation" and called for feuding political parties to show unity.
Fearing for his life, Ghanem had fled into exile following the assassination in June of another anti-Syrian MP, and returned to Lebanon only on Sunday.
He was the eighth anti-Syrian politician to be assassinated since the February 2005 murder of five-time prime minister and billionaire tycoon Rafiq Hariri.
The authorities have prepared emergency accommodation for fearful MPs in a special high-security wing of a luxury Beirut hotel. |
