Protesters paralyse Beirut for second day

One has to wonder how long Siniora's government can hang on as the protest enters it's second day. There is something magnificent about people taking to the streets in this way to demand change. There is certainly no equivalent movement in the west calling for Bush and Blair to answer for what, in their case, are war crimes.

Indeed, Blair has even outlawed protest anywhere near the British parliament.

Thousands of supporters of Lebanon's Hizbollah-led opposition paralysed parts of central Beirut on the second day of a campaign to topple the US-backed government. Scores of tents sprang up overnight as protesters occupied parking lots, squares and streets leading to the government's headquarters, bringing Beirut's normally bustling commercial district to a standstill. Restaurants and cafes were shut. Many banks also stayed closed.

Hundreds of thousands of opposition supporters rallied on Friday to demand the resignation of the Western-backed government, but Prime Minister Fouad Siniora insisted his government would not be toppled through protests.

However, Siniora had some support from the usual suspects.

'This is a government elected by the people of Lebanon and a government which has the constitutional authority that election gives it,' British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said after meeting Siniora in Beirut.

If Beckett's support doesn't finish him off, nothing will.

It really must be something that Siniora now finds himself relying on the woman who refused to call for a ceasefire whilst Israel bombarded Beirut with bombs.

If anyone believes that Margaret Beckett has the interests of the Lebanese people as her main goal, then they must be on smack.

"She shouldn't have come," said 27-year-old Ali when told of the visit. "Please, can you ask the British and the Americans to stop interfering in our business?" Thirty-six-year- old Mohammad was one of a crowd of young men yelling anti-Siniora slogans towards the building where Mrs Beckett's meeting with Mr Siniora took place.

"If she really wants to help this country, then please take Siniora with you and leave us alone," he said.

The chances of Lebanon being left alone were further dimmed by former chief of Israel Defense Forces Army Intelligence Corps, General (reserves) Aharon Ze'evi Farkash stating that if Siniora stepped down then the chances of another Israeli-Lebanon war would increase.

Farkash told Army Radio Sunday that Israel should not intervene in the political crisis in Beirut. "It is Europe's responsibility to prevent radical elements from overtaking [Lebanon], elements that try to turn it into an Iranian outpost," he said.

Again, the Lebanese are not allowed to simply want change. There is always the inference that they are being manipulated by the Iranians. What did the Lebanese ever do to deserve to be piggy in the middle of so many other people's battles?

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tag: Lebanon, Siniora, Nasrallah, Hizbullah, protests,