Lebanon marks civil war amid new tensions

by **Admin** Tue Apr 15, 2008 4:28 am

Hundreds
of Lebanese marched through Beirut on Sunday to commemorate the 33rd
anniversary of the outbreak of the country's 1975-1990 civil war amid
renewed political tensions.

Supporters of the Iranian- and
Syrian-backed opposition, who have maintained a protest camp outside
the offices of the rump Western-backed cabinet of Prime Minister Fuad
Siniora for the past 16 months, raised their barricades to allow the
marchers past.

"Now
that we have been able to break through a barrier that has been blocked
for more than a year and a half, I hope this is the first step towards
breaking down the barriers between all Lebanese," said Hussein Hjeij,
54.

The
deadlock between the government and opposition has left Lebanon without
a head of state since November and raised fears of a return to the
sectarian strife of civil war days.

"We
are here today to make a statement against civil war and against
sectarianism," said one of the marchers, Mohammed Khatib, 56,
wheelchair-bound as a result of wounds he sustained during the war.

The
demonstrators marched along the so-called Green Line that divided the
Lebanese capital into Christian and mainly Muslim sectors during the
devastating conflict which drew in neighbouring powers.

"I
just want to find out if they died," said Fayrouz Shahin, whose four
sons and husband were kidnapped and have been missing since September
18, 1982.

"We have had enough. We don't want war," she said, fighting back the tears.

The march culminated in the planting of an olive tree, the symbol of peace, in the city's Garden of Forgiveness.
"We
are going through a phase in which the whole country and society feels
that we are in danger," said march organiser Melhem Khalaf. "This is a
turning point for Lebanese civil society."