Hezbollah Supporters Flood Beirut, Demand New Government

Fallout from the assassination of Pierre Gemayel in Lebanon continued today, with Hezbollah organizing hundreds of thousands of supporters to protest in Beirut, demanding a resignation of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora.

Police estimated its size at 800,000 people, but Hezbollah claimed it was larger, the Associated Press news agency said.

Speaking from behind a bullet-proof glass screen, Christian opposition leader Michel Aoun told the cheering crowd that the current government was unconstitutional and should resign.

He said they had "made corruption a daily affair."

Mr. Siniora's government has vowed to stand firm against what he has called an attempted coup.

"Lebanon's independence is threatened and its democratic system is in danger," he said on Thursday.

Meanwhile, US State Department spokesman Tom Case expressed concern, saying "Hezbollah and its allies, with support from Syria and the Iranian government, are continuing to work to destabilize Lebanon."
Hezbollah's increased support within Lebanon can be directly traced to its conflict with Israel earlier this year. Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, leader of Hezbollah, proclaimed victory in the conflict against Israel, merely by surviving Israel's onslaught. Their coordinated relief efforts following the war were well timed for maximum propaganda effect, and generated considerable sympathy for the organization. Now they're spending that political capital in a big way by trying to pressure the currently democratic Lebanese government to revert to its pro-Syrian, fascist dominated ways.

Hezbollah has been demanding a bigger share in the cabinet that would give it the power to veto government decisions.

The government came to office last year in the first election held after the withdrawal of Syrian troops originally stationed in Lebanon during the civil war.
If Hezbollah wants to play a larger role in the Lebanese government then they're going to have to do what every other group who wants to participate in a democratic government does: field candidates in a general election and let the voters put them in power. It seems fairly obvious that they have enough supporters to at least do that with some candidates, the fact that they're looking to circumvent democracy in order to gain power suggests that they don't have a whole lot of respect for the democratic process as a whole. And that does not bode well for one of the Middle East's few functioning democracies.

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