LEBANON:Razor wire, troops and a political chasm divided them. On one side, about 300,000 flag-waving Lebanese poured into Beirut's Martyrs' Square to commemorate the former prime minister's assassination. Over the fence, opponents lay low in their protest camp, watching a show of support for the government they want to go.
Rafik Al-Hariri's killing plunged Lebanon into crisis and sectarian tensions are climbing two years later. Many feared that a gathering of pro-government demonstrators alongside a camp they see as having occupied "their" capital since early December would hold a match to tinder.
On the eve of the memorial, twin bus bombings killed three people, wounded at least 22 and raised fears of sectarian clashes. Although Lebanon has witnessed a string of assassinations of prominent figures, these were the first attacks for years aimed at killing large numbers of civilians.
Undeterred, demonstrators sat atop lampposts and climbed cranes, transforming into a sea of red, white and green flags the square where Hariri is buried and mass protests piled pressure on Lebanon's Syrian overlords in 2005.
Blue and white balloons bobbed overhead bearing the words: "We missed you."
Student Iman Dalli said it was a day to remember Hariri's achievements, his building of schools, roads and the pristine streets of Downtown, reclaimed from ruin during the 1975-90 civil war, that are his most high-profile legacy. "He was bigger than all of Lebanon," she said.
For others, it was about politics. "We've come here to tell the world we are not with Hizbullah and Iran and Syria," said Taghrid Al-Unaisi from the eastern Chouf region. "After the bombs, which were supposed to scare us off, we were even more determined to come."
The prime minister, Fouad Siniora, declared an official day of mourning. Many shops and businesses were shuttered and streets were quiet. Army and security forces blocked routes to the protest camp and searched demonstrators.
On a podium outside the white tent where Hariri is buried, politicians infused their tributes with fierce rhetoric against Syria, which they blame for Hariri's death and the subsequent bombings. Syria denies the charges.
Druze leader Walid Jumblatt described Syrian president Bashar al-Assad as "a monkey, a snake and a butcher".
"We will not surrender to terrorism, to explosive charges, to totalitarian parties, Syrian and non-Syrian," he said. The last appeared to be a reference to Damascus's ally, Hizbullah.
Hariri's son, Saad, leader of the parliamentary majority, said an international court to try the suspects was the only way to resolve Lebanon's crisis. Lebanon was in the "hour of truth", he added.
The government and United Nations Security Council have approved plans for a court, which they say the opposition is trying to block. The president has so far refused to ratify them.
The crowd fell silent at 12.55pm to mark the exact moment Hariri met his end with 22 others on the Beirut seafront two years ago. Bells tolled and a mosque's muezzin called the faithful to prayer.
Shia guerrilla group Hizbullah has led a campaign for more clout in the Sunni-led government since its war last summer with Israel. Clashes between the two sides, which each also have a Christian component, killed nine people in late January.
Sectarian tensions were rarely far away yesterday. Some demonstrators cursed the Shia. In the Sunni neighbourhood of Ras El-Nabeh, Future Youth supporters marched along chanting: "God is with the Sunnis".
"Hizbullah is an Iranian seed planted in Lebanese soil and watered by Syria," read one placard, decked with pictures of assassinated anti-Syrian figures.