Cedar Revolution - Resurgent Counter-demonstrations

Resurgent Counter-demonstrations

On March 14, the one-month memorial of the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, hundreds of thousands of Lebanese rallied in central Beirut on Monday chanting "Freedom, Sovereignty, Independence" and carrying a huge Lebanese flag. They flocked from throughout the country, many unable to even enter the city due to heavy traffic. The demonstration was called by the different factions of the anti-Syrian opposition (including the Hariri family and other groupings) and was trumpeted by the different private media, namely Future TV, a private enterprise part of the media empire controlled by Hariri's family and the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation LBCI, generally aligned with the Lebanese Forces, the right-wing Christian party.

The demonstration occurred in Martyrs' Square, the site of Hariri's grave and a center of the newly reconstructed city rebuilt in large part through Hariri's efforts. During the Lebanese civil war, factional infighting between the groups united in Martyrs' Square had turned the area into an impassable moonscape.

The Lebanese protestors demanded an international inquiry into Hariri's murder, the firing of Syrian-backed security chiefs in the Lebanese government, and a total Syrian pullout from Lebanon.