Beirut (AsiaNews) The President of the Maronite League (an association set up in the seventies to support the Maronite presence in Lebanon and in the world) today honoured George Hawi as "a pioneer of dialogue". In an interview with AsiaNews, he said the assassination of the communist politician, who was killed yesterday in a car bomb attack, "will go down in the bloody screenplay which aims to divide Lebanon and terrorise its people". Meanwhile, yesterday evening and this morning, processions of people went to pay homage to Hawi, visiting the site where the bomb went off.
"The assassination of Gorge Hawi, a fighter and a fervent democrat, is a new terrorist act. It can be added to the long bloody screenplay by authors and actors who seek to divide Lebanon and divide its people. This organized terrorism, which cost Rafic Hariri, Bassel Flaihan, and Samir Kassir their lives, and which attempted to annihilate Marwan Hamade, is an attempt against Lebanese political vitality and against its new democracy. In George Hawi, we lost one who struggled to open to the other; a pioneer of dialogue in all its forms. He was known for his resistance to the Israeli occupation and for his sincere fight for the unity of Lebanon, its independence, sovereignty and democratic development."
Already yesterday, thousands of people, men and women, went to the site of George Hawi's assassination at Wata el-Msaitbeh. Many gathered around the security cordon, carrying red flags and singing the Internationale anthem (Hawi was a militant communist). Many others left roses in the crater created by the explosion, others lit candles on site.
Young militants of the democratic left, scarves of the Intifada of independence wrapped around their necks, raised boards bearing photos of Gorge Hawi, Rafic Hariri and Samir Kassir. On another board was written: "Save Syria! Save Lahoud! Who will be next?"