Huge Crowds Mourn Pierre Gemayel Jr.

Large crowds have greeted the coffin of assassinated Lebanese Christian Phalangist Pierre Gemayel after its arrival in his home village.

Supporters carried the coffin through the village of Bikfaya, east of Beirut, at the start of three days of mourning.

There is tight security in the village and across the country ahead of the politician's funeral on Thursday.

Mr Gemayel, the industry minister and a leading anti-Syrian figure, was shot in his car in a Christian area of Beirut.

Many people in Lebanon blame Syria for the killing, although Damascus has denied any involvement and condemned the assassination.

Pierre Gemayel, 34, was the fifth anti-Syrian Lebanese politician to be killed in the past two years.

His killing on Tuesday came at a time of crisis in Lebanese politics.

Last week, Lebanon's cabinet endorsed plans to set up a tribunal to try those suspected of killing former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri despite the resignations of six pro-Syrian ministers opposed to it.

A UN report recently implicated Damascus in the killing of Hariri by a truck bomb in Beirut in February 2005. Syria denies the charges.

The Security Council approved the plans for the tribunal on Tuesday. The Lebanese government will now be asked to approve it formally.

Bells tolled and a huge crowd of mourners accompanied Mr Gemayel's coffin to the mountain village of Bikfaya.

There was sombre applause from the crowd as the body passed.

Women threw rice from balconies onto the coffin, which was draped in the white flag of his Christian Phalangist party, and there were occasional bursts of guns fired into the air.

As a Catholic priest said prayers at the Gemayel family home, the Industry Minister's friends and family wept over his coffin.

Former Lebanese president Amin Gemayel , father of assasinated Lebanese Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel, and his sister Arzeh who is a Catholic nun leave St Joseph's hospital in Jdeideh, outside Beirut.

Mourners filed past, offering condolences to his father, former President Amin Gemayel.

"It's an indescribable feeling," mourner Fadi Jalakh, 27, told Reuters news agency.

"Those who killed him don't want the Lebanese to unite. Anything after this is going to make things worse."

Mr Gemayel's supporters have called for a mass turnout at his funeral, and there is a large military presence both in the village and in Beirut.

Independence Day celebrations that were due to take place on Wednesday have been cancelled throughout the country.

Patricia Gemayel, wife of Lebanon's Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel, reacts as his coffin passes in a street in Bekfaya, Mount Lebanon November 22, 2006. Pierre Gemayel, an outspoken critic of Syria, was assassinated near Beirut on Tuesday. At left is Amin Gemayel, former Lebanese president and father of Pierre Gemayel.

The politician died after at least three gunmen ambushed him, ramming his car with their vehicle before spraying it with gunfire from point blank range.

The killing brought a swift reaction from world leaders, many of whom also offered backing for the government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora.

Pope Benedict XVI condemned the assassination.

"Faced with the dark forces who are trying to destroy the country, I invite all Lebanese to not let themselves be vanquished by hate but instead to try to re-forge national unity, justice and reconciliation and to work together to build a future of peace," he said.

US President George Bush called for a full investigation to identify "those people and those forces" behind the killing.

He accused Syria and Iran of fomenting "instability and violence" in Lebanon.

Syria's official SANA news agency condemned the murder as "a crime aimed at destabilising Lebanon and disturbing the civil peace in the country".

There was also condemnation of the killing from Iran and from the Hezbollah, the Shia Moslem Lebanese political and militant group.

A Christian Phalangist protester breaks the logo of the Syrian Social National Party (SSNP), a pro-Syrian neo-Nazi party, in reaction to the assassination of prominent anti-Syrian Christian politician Pierre Gemayel. The SSNP is also responsible for the assassination of Bashir Gemayel in September of 1982. Bashir was the uncle of Pierre.

CFPA: The SSNP should not be allowed on Lebanese soil as it is a traitorous organization, one of it's main agendas is the incorporation of Lebanon into a greater Syria. It would not surprise us if the Syrian National Socialist Social Nationalist Party was found to have done this assassination. There have been reports of Christian Phalangists overturning and destroying cars of SSNP members and it might be wise if the SSNP people got of Dodge while they stiil have the chance.

On another note the Hezbollah terror organization has had a huge demonstration planned for weeks that will take place Beirut tomorrow to demand they be given more control of the Lebanese government. What will happen when thousands of Hezbollah meet up with thousands of Christian mourners in the streets of Beirut? We're sure the army will be sent in to keep the two groups from a confrontation.

Posted: 22 Dec 2006