BEIRUT, Lebanon, Dec. 10 (UPI) -- An estimated 1 million Hezbollah supporters thronged downtown Beirut Sunday demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Fuad Siniora.
Siniora, in a nearby fortified office, said he was open to talking with the opposition. He acknowledged the political crisis was threatening Lebanon's security and economy as well as its political system, YNetNews said.
But he told a conference Lebanon's democracy was strong enough to absorb the shock of the protests.
"This is the largest crowd ever to attend a demonstration in Lebanon," Hezbollah Deputy Secretary-General Naim Qassem said in a speech to a sea of chanting people who swamped two squares in the heart of the capital.
"There is no place for America in Lebanon," Qassem said from behind bullet proof-glass.
The crowd, many waving green-and-yellow Hezbollah flags, responded, chanting, "Death to America, death to Israel, long live a dignified Lebanon," YNetNews reported.
Opposition Shitte activists have paralyzed central Beirut since Dec. 1 in a round-the-clock protest aimed at forcing Siniora and his Sunni-backed majority to form a new government.
