Funeral draws 'largest crowd'
2005-02-16 15:08
Beirut - Screaming and weeping mourners clambered around the flag-draped coffin carrying the body of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri as hundreds of thousands of people turned out for his funeral on Wednesday, two days after a huge bomb killed the man credited with rebuilding post-civil war Lebanon.
Suspicions over Syrian involvement in Hariri's assassination further charged the atmosphere, with his family and supporters warning officials of the pro-Syrian Lebanese government to stay away. Internationally, pressure mounted to find his killers, with Washington recalling its ambassador and the United Nations Security Council demanding Lebanon catch bring those responsible for Hariri's slaying.
More than 200 000 people crowded into a central Beirut square around the towering Mohammed al-Amin Mosque, which Hariri built. It is also where the billionaire businessman, who was Lebanon's prime minister for 10 of the years since the end of the 1975-90 civil, was buried.
A huge security operation policed the funeral, which drew the largest crowd seen in Lebanon, aside from a 1997 mass delivered in Beirut by Pope John Paul II that attracted almost one million people.
Sunni Muslim clerics, Druse leaders in white turbans and ordinary Lebanese Shiites and Christians marched in the funeral procession - a sign of Hariri's popularity and ability to reach across historically volatile sectarian divides.
Grieving relatives, including his three sons, carried Hariri's coffin, draped in a red, white and green Lebanese flag, out of an ambulance and through the masses.
In line with Islamic tradition, Hariri's coffin was lowered into its grave following midday prayers. Hundreds of people swarmed around the grave to say prayers over the body of the late ex-Lebanese leader, who was a Sunni Arab.
The Beirut procession turned into a spontaneous anti-Syrian demonstration, with visibly enraged mourners shouting insults at Syrian President Bashar Assad and demanding him to "remove your dogs from Beirut," a reference to Syrian intelligence agents, part of an overall contingent of 15 000 troops deployed in the country since 1976.
Syrian vice-president Abdul-Halim Khaddam, a close family friend, attended the mosque service, but did not take part in the procession. Absent from the procession were members of the Lebanese government, who were warned by Hariri supporters and relatives not to attend.
Many in Lebanon accuse Syria of at least having a hand in Hariri's killing. Syria denies the accusation and has condemned the assassination.
Breaking with Islamic tradition, hundreds of weeping women waving white handkerchiefs joined men in the march.
Associated Press correspondents Hussein Dakroub and Joseph Panossian contributed to this report from Beirut.
- AP