BEIRUT (AFP)
Hundreds of Lebanese marched through Beirut on Sunday to commemorate the 33rd anniversary of the outbreak of the country's 1975-1990 civil war amid renewed political tensions.
Supporters of the Iranian- and Syrian-backed opposition, who have maintained a protest camp outside the offices of the rump Western-backed cabinet of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora for the past 16 months, raised their barricades to allow the marchers past.
"Now that we have been able to break through a barrier that has been blocked for more than a year and a half, I hope this is the first step towards breaking down the barriers between all Lebanese," said Hussein Hjeij, 54.
The deadlock between the government and opposition has left Lebanon without a head of state since November and raised fears of a return to the sectarian strife of civil war days.
"We are here today to make a statement against civil war and against sectarianism," said one of the marchers, Mohammed Khatib, 56, wheelchair-bound as a result of wounds he sustained during the war.
The demonstrators marched along the so-called Green Line that divided the Lebanese capital into Christian and mainly Muslim sectors during the devastating conflict which drew in neighboring powers.
"I just want to find out if they died," said Fayrouz Shahin, whose four sons and husband were kidnapped and have been missing since September 18, 1982.
"We have had enough. We don't want war," she said, fighting back tears.
The march culminated in the planting of an olive tree, the symbol of peace, in the city's Garden of Forgiveness.
"We are going through a phase in which the whole country and society feels that we are in danger," said march organizer Melhem Khalaf. "This is a turning point for Lebanese civil society." |
