AND THE DEMOCRACY DOMINOES BEGIN TO FALL! ANOTHER COUNTRY THAT WANTS TO HAVE A SAY IN ITS GOVERNMENT.
Lebanon's Syrian-backed government resigns
25,000 protesters cheer announcement in Beirut
The Associated Press
Updated: 1:07 p.m. ET Feb. 28, 2005
BEIRUT, Lebanon - Lebanese Prime Minister Omar Karami announced the resignation of his pro-Syrian government Monday, two weeks after the assassination of his predecessor, Rafik Hariri, triggered protests in the streets and calls for Syria to withdraw its thousands of troops.
?I am keen that the government will not be a hurdle in front of those who want the good for this country. I declare the resignation of the government that I had the honor to head. May God preserve Lebanon,? Karami said.
Karami made the announcement during a parliamentary debate called to discuss Hariri?s Feb. 14 assassination in a bomb blast that killed 16 others. The announcement prompted cheers from more than 25,000 flag-waving demonstrators protesting against the government and its Syrian backers outside.
A dramatic turn
The resignation was the most dramatic moment yet in the series of protests and political maneuvers that have shaken Lebanon since Hariri?s killing.
Many in Lebanon blame Syria for Hariri?s slaying and have pressed hard since then for the resignation of the pro-Syrian Lebanese government and for Syria to withdraw its 15,000 troops positioned in Lebanon.
Both governments have denied involvement in Hariri?s assassination.
In Washington, Undersecretary of State Paula Dobriansky told reporters that a peaceful revolution might be under way "that is unifying the citizens of that nation to the cause of true democracy and freedom from foreign influence."
Earlier Monday, Karami had asked the legislature for a vote of confidence in his Cabinet, which took power in October after Hariri?s resignation in a dispute with Syria, the main power broker in Lebanon.
Crowds push past soldiers
Hundreds of soldiers and police had blocked off Beirut?s central Martyrs? Square, but there was no violence, even as hundreds of flag-waving protesters evaded the cordon, climbed the martyrs? statue and prayed before candles at the flower-covered grave of Hariri, which lies at the piazza?s edge.
Protest leaders urged their followers not to provoke the security forces, who refrained from trying to disperse the crowd. About 3,000 people spent the night in the square to beat a ban on demonstrations that took effect at daybreak Monday.
?We want the truth. Who killed Rafik Hariri?? Walid Jumblatt, an opposition leader, said in a telephone interview on Hariri?s Future television. He urged the people to ?go down today, tomorrow, for a month or two months until the regime falls.?
Hariri was seen as quietly opposing Syria?s control over Lebanon and had been expected to stand in Parliamentary elections in April or May against Karami.
U.S. pressure
David Satterfield, a U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state who is visiting Lebanon, on Sunday reiterated Washington?s demand that Damascus withdraw its troops from Lebanon ?as soon as possible? and end its involvement in Lebanese affairs.
Satterfield was to meet Foreign Minister Mahmoud Hammoud on Monday to urge a thorough inquiry into Hariri?s killing.
Lebanon says it will cooperate with U.N. investigators currently in Beirut but has refused a full foreign investigation of the killing. Despite official Lebanese and Syrian denials of involvement in Hariri?s death, the attack has plunged Lebanon into its worst political crisis in years.
Lebanon?s Army Command urged citizens not to demonstrate or gather anywhere in Beirut from early Monday, but Syrian opponents rejected the ban and insisted on a ?peaceful and democratic sit-in,? according to Ahmed Fatfat, a legislator and ally of Hariri.
Syria said Thursday it would pull its forces eastward toward its border but will not bring them home. There has been no visible Syrian military movement to the eastern Bekaa Valley in line with a 1989 Arab-brokered agreement that ended the 1975-1990 civil war.
In Egypt, visiting Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa rejected pulling all his country?s forces out of Lebanon.
Though the pro-Syrian government has a supportive parliament, Damascus and Beirut are under considerable domestic and international pressure to respond to the calls for Syria to ease its political and military grip on its tiny neighbor.
Police said vandals destroyed a bust of the late Syrian President Hafez Assad in the southern village of Qana in a sign of growing grass-roots anti-Syrian sentiment.
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7023538/
Lebanon's Syrian-backed government resigns
25,000 protesters cheer announcement in Beirut
The Associated Press
Updated: 1:07 p.m. ET Feb. 28, 2005
BEIRUT, Lebanon - Lebanese Prime Minister Omar Karami announced the resignation of his pro-Syrian government Monday, two weeks after the assassination of his predecessor, Rafik Hariri, triggered protests in the streets and calls for Syria to withdraw its thousands of troops.
?I am keen that the government will not be a hurdle in front of those who want the good for this country. I declare the resignation of the government that I had the honor to head. May God preserve Lebanon,? Karami said.
Karami made the announcement during a parliamentary debate called to discuss Hariri?s Feb. 14 assassination in a bomb blast that killed 16 others. The announcement prompted cheers from more than 25,000 flag-waving demonstrators protesting against the government and its Syrian backers outside.
A dramatic turn
The resignation was the most dramatic moment yet in the series of protests and political maneuvers that have shaken Lebanon since Hariri?s killing.
Many in Lebanon blame Syria for Hariri?s slaying and have pressed hard since then for the resignation of the pro-Syrian Lebanese government and for Syria to withdraw its 15,000 troops positioned in Lebanon.
Both governments have denied involvement in Hariri?s assassination.
In Washington, Undersecretary of State Paula Dobriansky told reporters that a peaceful revolution might be under way "that is unifying the citizens of that nation to the cause of true democracy and freedom from foreign influence."
Earlier Monday, Karami had asked the legislature for a vote of confidence in his Cabinet, which took power in October after Hariri?s resignation in a dispute with Syria, the main power broker in Lebanon.
Crowds push past soldiers
Hundreds of soldiers and police had blocked off Beirut?s central Martyrs? Square, but there was no violence, even as hundreds of flag-waving protesters evaded the cordon, climbed the martyrs? statue and prayed before candles at the flower-covered grave of Hariri, which lies at the piazza?s edge.
Protest leaders urged their followers not to provoke the security forces, who refrained from trying to disperse the crowd. About 3,000 people spent the night in the square to beat a ban on demonstrations that took effect at daybreak Monday.
?We want the truth. Who killed Rafik Hariri?? Walid Jumblatt, an opposition leader, said in a telephone interview on Hariri?s Future television. He urged the people to ?go down today, tomorrow, for a month or two months until the regime falls.?
Hariri was seen as quietly opposing Syria?s control over Lebanon and had been expected to stand in Parliamentary elections in April or May against Karami.
U.S. pressure
David Satterfield, a U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state who is visiting Lebanon, on Sunday reiterated Washington?s demand that Damascus withdraw its troops from Lebanon ?as soon as possible? and end its involvement in Lebanese affairs.
Satterfield was to meet Foreign Minister Mahmoud Hammoud on Monday to urge a thorough inquiry into Hariri?s killing.
Lebanon says it will cooperate with U.N. investigators currently in Beirut but has refused a full foreign investigation of the killing. Despite official Lebanese and Syrian denials of involvement in Hariri?s death, the attack has plunged Lebanon into its worst political crisis in years.
Lebanon?s Army Command urged citizens not to demonstrate or gather anywhere in Beirut from early Monday, but Syrian opponents rejected the ban and insisted on a ?peaceful and democratic sit-in,? according to Ahmed Fatfat, a legislator and ally of Hariri.
Syria said Thursday it would pull its forces eastward toward its border but will not bring them home. There has been no visible Syrian military movement to the eastern Bekaa Valley in line with a 1989 Arab-brokered agreement that ended the 1975-1990 civil war.
In Egypt, visiting Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa rejected pulling all his country?s forces out of Lebanon.
Though the pro-Syrian government has a supportive parliament, Damascus and Beirut are under considerable domestic and international pressure to respond to the calls for Syria to ease its political and military grip on its tiny neighbor.
Police said vandals destroyed a bust of the late Syrian President Hafez Assad in the southern village of Qana in a sign of growing grass-roots anti-Syrian sentiment.
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7023538/
