[LCM Articles] Protests paralyze Lebanon, 3 killed, 110 hurt

[Farrah Haidar]

Not that most of you don't know this already...


Protests paralyze Lebanon, 3 killed, 110 hurt 
By Alistair Lyon, Special Correspondent 40 minutes ago 

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Protesters bent on toppling Lebanon's cabinet blocked roads with blazing tires on Tuesday, sparking clashes with government loyalists in which three people were killed and more than 110 people hurt, police said. 

The violence raised the stakes in a campaign by Iranian- and Syrian-backed Hezbollah and its Shi'ite and Christian allies to oust Prime Minister Fouad Siniora's Western-supported government. Siniora, a Sunni Muslim, vowed to stand firm.

"We will stay together against intimidation. We will stand together against strife," he said in a televised speech.

"Today's general strike turned into actions and harassment that overstepped all limits and rekindled memories of times of strife, war and hegemony," Siniora said.

He hinted that the government might take stronger measures.

"The duty of the army and security forces does not allow any flexibility or compromise regarding the public interest, order and civic peace," Siniora declared.

The street trouble prompted him to delay his departure for an international conference on aid for Lebanon to be held in Paris on Thursday. He did not say if he still planned to go.

Lebanese troops tried to keep rival groups apart, but police said a member of the Christian, pro-government Lebanese Forces party was shot dead in the town of Batroun, north of Beirut.

Two people were shot and killed in the mainly Sunni Muslim northern port of Tripoli. Police said gunfire wounded 45 people, many of them in the Christian towns of Byblos and Halba.

Police said more than 110 people were hurt in a day of skirmishes around the country. Stone-throwing crowds fought in Beirut and Christian areas to the north, even though troops caught in the middle fired in the air to deter them.

PALL OF SMOKE

Black smoke billowed over Beirut as demonstrators shut main roads, including those to the port and international airport, to enforce a general strike called by Hezbollah and its allies.

Several airlines canceled flights. About 300 passengers were stranded at the airport because nearby roads were closed.

"This government only understands force and today is only a small lesson," protester Jamil Wahb told Reuters in the Shi'ite southern suburbs. "We will stay here until they give in."

The army, which has been guarding government offices in central Beirut since the opposition began protesting there on December 1, has few extra troops to deploy. It is already stretched after moving thousands of men to south Lebanon and the Syrian border following Hezbollah's war with Israel last year.

One Christian leader said Tuesday's protests were tantamount to a coup attempt.

Siniora has rejected opposition demands. Instead, he has announced a reform plan to be presented at the Paris conference, where donors are expected to pledge money, possibly in the billions of dollars, for Lebanon's debt-laden economy.

"We (the United States) will make a long-term financial contribution to help Lebanon rebuild itself," said UnderSecretary of State Nicholas Burns at a seminar in Dubai. 

Such support would help thwart those trying "to overturn a democratically elected government through ... mobs." 

Hezbollah's deputy leader Naim Kassem told Al Jazeera television that the unrest would continue. 

"We will do our utmost to maintain control of ourselves and our supporters but I share with you the concern about the other side, which has no such controls," he said. 

Pro-government figures condemned the protests. 

"What is happening is a revolution and a coup attempt," Christian leader Samir Geagea told al-Jazeera television. "This is direct terrorism to paralyze the country." 

Opposition sources say protests will last for several days. 

The campaign has raised tension between Sunnis and Shi'ites in Lebanon, still recovering from a 1975-90 civil war. 
(Additional reporting by Nadim Ladki and Laila Bassam; Dubai newsroom)
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