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Hariri: Mass protest against UN
24/10/2005 20:11 - (SA)
Damascus - Thousands of Syrians took to the streets of the capital and the northern city of Aleppo on Monday in the largest protest since the release of a United Nations report implicating Syria in the killing of former Lebanese premier Rafik Hariri.
The protests were aimed at denouncing the report's findings and at expressing solidarity with the Syrian government in the face of international condemnation.
Protesters shouting anti-United States slogans gathered in the Sabe' Bahrat square in downtown Damascus to denounce the report, which Syrian newspapers had described as flawed and politically motivated.
An editorial in the English language Syria Times said: "The controversial report lacks credibility and legal professionalism."
'Anti-Lebanese, anti-Syrian figures'
The newspaper also accused the UN investigating team of relying on "deliberate testimonies of anti-Lebanese and anti-Syrian figures".
Schools, universities and official institutions were closed on Monday to allow people to take part in the demonstration.
In Damascus, protesters shouted pro-Assad slogans and waved banners reading "Let us live in peace" and "Syria will never be another Iraq".
Linda Taha, 30, a public employee, accused the report of being the product of a joint US-Israeli strategy intent on putting international pressure on Syria.
She said: "What happened in Iraq should not be repeated in Syria."
False accusations
A university student Khlouk Anqa, 23, said: "We had expected Mehlis to unveil the truth, but unfortunately, it came up with false accusations and fabricated charges."
Similar scenes took place in Aleppo, 355km northwest of Damascus, where thousands of demonstrators chanting anti-American slogans marched to a central square.
Ahmed Haj Suleiman, head of the lawyers' syndicate in Aleppo, accused the report of being based on "hypotheses and suspicions".
He said: "The US would never be able to break the will of the Syrians, who are ready to defend Syria by all means and who have repeatedly expressed their rejection of the US pressures."
Private broadcasters called on Syrians to join the demonstration that was broadcasted live on state-run television.
Senior Syrian officials implicated
A news anchor commenting on the demonstration, said: "Hariri was as much the son of Syria as Lebanon."
The report implicated several senior Syrian officials in the February 14 bomb blast, which killed Hariri and 20 others.
The report also accused the Syrian government of not co-operating with the UN investigation into the blast - a charge Syria denied.
The US and Britain called on Sunday for a common international stand against Syria in the wake of the UN report.
The US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice and British foreign secretary Jack Straw underlined the gravity of the case against Syria in the face of possible punitive action by the UN Security Council.
- SAPA
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