BEIRUT, Lebanon, Nov. 24 (UPI) -- The assassination of anti-Syria Lebanese Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel may have launched the countdown for ousting pro-Syria President Emile Lahoud.
Gemayel's father, former President Amin Gemayel, told a massive angry crowd at Martyrs Square in Beirut's downtown that "total and real change" for consolidating Lebanon's independence is forthcoming and "the countdown for electing a new president of the republic has started."
Hundreds of thousands of mourners turned out at the funeral Thursday in a powerful show of strength against Hezbollah-led pro-Syria groups.
The massive funeral was reminiscent of the so-called "Cedar Revolution", the mass protests staged in March 2005 in the aftermath of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri's assassination which, along with international pressure, forced Syria to quit Lebanon after three decades of a controversial military and political presence.
Gemayel and other leaders in the anti-Syrian March 14 Coalition vowed to back the creation of an international tribunal to prosecute defendants in Hariri's assassination and that of other anti-Syria politicians and journalists. Pierre Gemayel was the sixth Syria foe killed since Hariri's Feb. 14, 2005, slaying.
"We will not rest or live in peace until all the criminals who committed the crimes against Lebanon and our children are brought to justice," former President Gemayel said.
Samir Geagea of the Lebanese Forces underscored the legitimacy of current Prime Minister Fouad Siniora's March14-dominated government which Hezbollah and its allies threatened to bring down in street protests.
"The only real illegitimacy and lack of nationality exist in their ranks, particularly in the occupant of Baabda (presidential palace)," Geagea said in reference to Lahoud, whose three-year extended mandate at Syria's behest in September 2004 is challenged as illegitimate by the March 14 Coalition.
Saad Hariri, son of the slain premier, vowed to "keep up the battle for achieving justice and bringing the culprits to court."
