Anti-government rally goes off without a hitch in Beirut
Beirut (AsiaNews) Four hundred thousand protesters took to the streets of Beirut yesterday according to rally organisershalf that many according to policeto protest against the government of Prime Minister Fuad Siniora on the pretext of a plan for short-term employment contracts that was not even on today's government agenda.
Shiite protesters from Hezbollah led by the party's deputy general secretary Nahim Kassem, members of Amal with Ali Hassan Khalil, Michel Aoun's Christian followers, members of former Interior Minister Suleiman Frangieh's al-Maradah movement and trade union leaders took part in the event.
The Daily Star called the rally an "anti-reformists march" whilst L'Orient Le Jour stressed its openly pro-Syrian stance.
Contacted by phone (for security reasons), General Aoun criticised government policies "for impoverishing the people and draining the country of its vital forces, that is the young." He also called for new elections and a new government. Aoun reiterated his alliance with Hezbollah and harshly attacked Druze leader Walid Jumblatt and Lebanese Forces head, Samir Geagea.
Acting Interior Minister Ahmad Fatfat, who belongs to Saad Hariri's Future Movement party, emphasised the work of security forces which were perfect in handling the situation. No incidents were reported. Mr Fatfat also criticised the latest claims made by Hezbollah's chief whip, Mohammad Raad, underscoring Hezbollah's own contradictory positions. On the one hand, it has ministers in the cabinet like Mohamad Fneich; on the other, it openly attacks it.
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