Beirut (AsiaNews) – Condemnation, participation, anxiety. This is how Lebanon is reacting to yesterday's assassination of Minister Pierre Gemayel, a "further blow to much desired peace", as the Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir described it. He has urged the Lebanese people to steer clear of acts of violence, echoing a call made yesterday by the family of the murdered man, whose father, former president Amin, made an appeal for the rejection of "the language of vendetta and violence."

However, it is no secret that anxiety is rife about the funeral of the minister, which will be held tomorrow, on a day of national mourning and with the majority called for a "new 14 March", evoking the immense crowd that put an end to Syrian occupation after the murder of the ex-prime minister Rafic Hariri.

A propos, one cannot but mention that only yesterday, the Security Council gave the go-ahead for the setting up of an international court mandated precisely to try those responsible for Hariri's murder and those perpetrated in the country since 2004. It is "those who fear the setting up of the international court" who have been blamed for Gemayel's killing by the "14 March" in a statement issued late last night, at the end of an extraordinary meeting at the Lebanon Phalange Party headquarters in the heart of Beirut.

Last night too, the head of the "14 March", Saad Hariri – son of the murdered premier – immediately accused Syria, which denied all responsibility. Meanwhile the parliamentary majority appealed to the Lebanese people, and especially to Christians, to oppose criminal scheming that aimed to create internal disorder.

Unanimous condemnation for the attack that has poured in from Washington, Teheran, the UN and the EU, as well as Arab countries, is ultimately also support for the government of Fouad Siniora. The prime minister took part in the meeting called by the 14 March movement. The meeting included a sorrowful speech by the father of the murdered man, the ex Lebanese president Amin Gemayel, who stressed the importance of this new witness, given by the blood of Minister Gemayel. The ex-president invited all to raise their prayers to implore God for peace and perseverance in the message of forgiveness started within the Gemayel family with the murder of their first martyr, Bachir, a few days after his election as president of the republic. Amin Gemayel then exhorted all to refute the language of vendetta and violence, as the slain minister had done, and he made a strong appeal on behalf of his wife Joyce and the rest of the family that the memory of Minister Gemayel may be respected, he who no longer belongs to the family but to the "great patrimony of Lebanese resistance". Finally, he asked for prayers for the victim, that he may intercede with the merciful God for his country, and he promised everyone that he would continue the journey towards Lebanon's full freedom and full sovereignty.

The Maronite Patriarch, Cardinal Nasrallah Sfeir will preside over the funeral at 1pm on Thursday, 22 November, in the Cathedral of St George in the heart of Beirut. He said he considers "the murder of Minister Gemayel as a new blow to much desired peace in the country after years of war" and he called attention to the necessity of keeping calm and not reacting violently, because Lebanon is no longer able to pay the price of violence. The patriarch finally appealed to the people's conscience, that they may double efforts to stop this campaign of violence, expressing his solidarity with the family of Minister Gemayel. The religious ceremony for the murdered minister was desired by the Gemayel family as a "new act of obedience to God's will." After the funeral, the body will be taken to the minister's village of origin in Bikfaya, near the tomb of his uncle Bashir, killed in 1982, his grandfather Pierre, founder of the Lebanese Phalange Party, and the daughter of President Bachir, young Maya, also killed 22 years ago by a car bomb.

The Lebanese president, Emile Lahoud was scheduled to preside over a sword presentation ceremony for a group of Lebanese army officials on Thursday, an event moved forward from 1 August because of the July war. Now he has decided to postpone the ceremony and to cancel a reception held every year to mark the independence of Lebanon. In a televised message, he expressed his strong condemnation for this crime that will stain the face of Lebanon and expressed his confidence in the fortitude of Lebanese citizens, who are being called once again to forget the past and to start a new phase of the country's history. The president expressed his consent for the setting up of the UN international tribunal on condition that it respects the Constitution of Lebanon and he hailed the memory of all Lebanon's martyrs, indicating this crime aspart of the international conspiracy against Lebanon.

The head of the Lebanese Forces, Samir Geagea, launched another attack against the President of Lebanon, Emile Lahoud, inviting him to present his resignation "because his presence in the presidential palace is at the origin of all Lebanon's miseries". Once again, he accused Syria and reiterated his full backing for the formation of a UN tribunal, "which will be the only means that can inflict the deserved penalty against criminals who have caused the death of many innocents."

Lebanon, on the day of its fragile independence, will hail the memory of a young Maronite leader, a new martyr at the altar of the homeland, whose name will go down in the register of Lebanon's young martyrs.