In Lebanon, large anti-government protests have entered their fourth day.
The protests began on Friday when hundreds of thousands of Hezbollah supporters and their Christian allies rallied in downtown Beirut. Since then thousands have camped out in tents in an effort to bring down the government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora.
The standoff shows no sign of waning despite calls from the two sides for dialogue to resolve their differences. The Arab League secretary general has visited to try to help, as did Jordan’s foreign minister. Egypt’s Beirut envoy also has been making the rounds.
After several days of trading accusations in the media, rival Lebanese leaders opened direct channels. A Sunni scholar in the opposition went to the government headquarters to discuss ideas on resolving the crisis and the government gave him its own proposals, including the possible expansion of the current Cabinet to satisfy opposition demands, youth and sports minister Ahmed Fatfat told reporters.
Shiite leaders tried to put the lid on the boiling sectarian tension and prevent revenge attacks after the killing of 21-year-old Shiite protester Ahmed Mahmoud, who was shot while walking Sunday with other protesters through the Sunni neighborhood of Qasqas. Twenty one people were wounded in the violence.
democracynow
guardian
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on Monday, December 4th, 2006 at 10:33 pm and is filed under main, war, the rest of the world, lebanon, middle east.
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In Lebanon, large anti-government protests have entered their fourth day.
The protests began on Friday when hundreds of thousands of Hezbollah supporters and their Christian allies rallied in downtown Beirut. Since then thousands have camped out in tents in an effort to bring down the government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora.
The standoff shows no sign of waning despite calls from the two sides for dialogue to resolve their differences. The Arab League secretary general has visited to try to help, as did Jordan’s foreign minister. Egypt’s Beirut envoy also has been making the rounds.
After several days of trading accusations in the media, rival Lebanese leaders opened direct channels. A Sunni scholar in the opposition went to the government headquarters to discuss ideas on resolving the crisis and the government gave him its own proposals, including the possible expansion of the current Cabinet to satisfy opposition demands, youth and sports minister Ahmed Fatfat told reporters.
Shiite leaders tried to put the lid on the boiling sectarian tension and prevent revenge attacks after the killing of 21-year-old Shiite protester Ahmed Mahmoud, who was shot while walking Sunday with other protesters through the Sunni neighborhood of Qasqas. Twenty one people were wounded in the violence.
democracynow
guardian
Stumble it!
This entry was posted
on Monday, December 4th, 2006 at 10:33 pm and is filed under main, war, the rest of the world, lebanon, middle east.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.