Lebanon: Anti-American feeling was to the fore as half a million demonstrated, reports Lara Marlowe in Beirut
People power, the anti-Syrian opposition learned yesterday, is a dangerous weapon. With three weeks of demonstrations, the Lebanese, whom Washington hailed as the "cedar revolution", gave impetus to the US and French-led drive to throw Syria out of Lebanon.
But the pro-Iranian, pro-Syrian Hizbullah movement outdid the opposition by mobilising close to a half-million people yesterday.
Everyone on Riad Solh Square was a Shia Muslim, the largest of Lebanon's 17 religious sects, representing nearly one-third of the population. They came at the request of their leader, Sayyid Hassan Nasrallah.
"You have always been there for the freedom, sovereignty and independence of Lebanon," Nasrallah harangued the crowd, hijacking the slogan of his anti-Syrian opponents. "Today you are deciding the destiny of your country."
The first placard I saw was carried by a little girl, aged six or seven. "America is the Source of Terrorism," it read. "All our problems are from America," said a poster hanging over a kebab stand. "No to Foreign Intervention and Gratitude to Syria," was a common theme. "Stop Israel Controlling the World," read a huge banner on an overpass.
Four teenage sisters from Gobeiri High School in the Shia southern suburbs were covered from head-to-toe in long robes and headscarves.
Did they really want the Syrians to stay? "Yes," Fatima (18) answered emphatically. "Because we don't want the Americans to take their place." Her sister Zeinab (17) said: "Syria is not doing anything wrong in Lebanon. Syria supports us; America will harm us."
Hizbullah opposes UN Security Council Resolution 1559 because it would require its disarmament. "Hizbullah has weapons so that we can defend our freedom and independence, that's all," said Fatima.
A 50-year-old orange grower from "the border with Palestine" in southern Lebanon looked distinguished in his poloneck jumper and grey wool blazer. He had to leave his home during the 1978-2000 Israeli occupation and said proudly: "I support and assist the resistance."
Though the assassinated former prime minister Rafik Hariri was a Sunni Muslim, the orange grower admired him. "Israel and the Americans killed Hariri," he asserted, launching into a bizarre tale of a depleted uranium bomb no larger than a Kleenex box.
But he was correct in saying that Hariri opposed the naturalisation of 350,000 Palestinians in Lebanon. This, he believed, was a motive for his assassination.
"We are here today to demand the truth about the assassination," he continued. "We are not saying we want Syria to stay, but we do not agree that Syria should be equated with Israel by UN resolutions."
The Lebanese cannot agree on their own history. When they were growing up, the Christians who demonstrated on Martyrs' Square learned that "notre mère la france" created the Maronite-ruled état du grand liban for them. But Soukaina (28) a computer programmer, did not see France in the same way.
"France had the mandate after the first World War and we fought and kicked them out," she said. "If they come back, we will kick them out again."
"I have one question to ask the Americans," said Zeinab (42) a nurse at Hizbullah's Rassoul al-Azzam Hospital next to Beirut airport. "Who appointed them to spread democracy across the globe, and give lessons in democracy to other people? They don't have democracy; we're not stupid like Americans who don't study or read newspapers."
Syria is haunted by the May 17th, 1983 peace treaty between Lebanon and Israel, and President Bashar al-Assad warned Lebanon on March 5th that "another May 17th agreement" is in the making.
These Shia families explained that fear: "We have a brother who was martyred with the resistance [ fighting Israel] in southern Lebanon," said Fatima (40) the sister of Soukaina and Zeinab. "We are duty-bound to ensure it was not in vain."
Several demonstrators cited Washington's double standards on enforcing UN resolutions. "The Americans never did anything about [ UNSC resolution] 425 [which demanded Israel's departure from southern Lebanon in 1978]", Soukaina said. "If it hadn't been for the resistance, they would never have left."
Ali Al-Ameli (42) a construction worker from the south also seized upon US hypocrisy.
"I want to ask the American president, who is asking the Syrians to withdraw from Lebanon, why he doesn't withdraw his troops from Iraq?"
Syrians were less articulate than the Lebanese. A man carrying a poster of Bashar al-Assad turned out to be a carpenter from the Syrian city of Aleppo, bused in overnight. Why had he come to Beirut?
"To stand with Hassan Nasrallah and the Lebanese people against the Israeli enemy. We are with Dr Bashar and the Lebanese government," he said.
Judging from the size of yesterday's demonstration, Hassan Nasrallah is arguably the most popular politician here. "Beirut was destroyed by [the Israeli prime minister] Sharon and it was protected by [the late Syrian president] Hafez al-Assad," Nasrallah's voice boomed over the speakers. "Syria wants only the best for Lebanon," he said.
Nasrallah warned President Jacques Chirac to "review your Lebanon policy". He paused between the names of President Bush, Condoleezza Rice and [the State Department official] David Satterfield to allow the crowd to boo in a tremendous roar.
"Lebanon will not succumb to your dogs of war," he warned Washington. "Do not interfere in our internal affairs."
But Nasrallah's angriest words were reserved for Sharon and his chief of staff, Shaul Mofaz. "We say to our eternal enemy, there is no life for you among us. Death to Israel."
Yesterday's demonstration was merely the beginning, Nasrallah promised. Every two or three days Hizbullah will hold a rally in a Lebanese city.
The next will take place in Lebanon's most Syrian town, Tripoli, in the north on Friday. On March 13th the Shia will gather in the southern town of Nabatiyeh.