FT.com / World / Middle East & Africa - Hundreds of anti-Syria protesters defy Beirut ban: "Hundreds of anti-Syria protesters defy Beirut ban
By Reuters. Monday February 28, 2005. 11.25am
Thousands defied an official ban and hundreds of soldiers to protest in Beirut against Syrian domination on Monday, as a parliament debate asked who assassinated the ex-prime minister in a Feb. 14 bombing.
Banks, schools and businesses closed, following an opposition call for a general strike to coincide with the debate on Rafik al-Hariri�s killing, an attack that recalled Lebanon�s 1975-90 civil war.
A no-confidence vote, which the Syrian-backed government was expected to win, would close the parliamentary session, deputies said.
Hundreds of Lebanese soldiers with assault rifles fanned out in an otherwise deserted downtown Beirut. Metal barricades and barbed wire barred roads to the protest scene and to parliament.
Army checkpoints on roads into Beirut turned away cars and buses carrying people into the capital to demonstrate.
But soldiers took no action against demonstrators draped in Lebanese flags who staged an overnight sit-in in Martyrs Square, near Hariri�s grave.
They let small groups join the protest, despite the official ban, but the crowd of a few thousand was smaller than the tens of thousands that have marched over the past two weeks.
Protesters demanded the government resign and chanted �Syria out� and �Freedom, sovereignty, independence�.
Syria plays a dominant role in Lebanon and maintains 14,000 troops there. Pressure has been growing within Lebanon and from abroad for a military withdrawal.
Opposition activists set up large television screens so protesters could watch the parliament session live while patriotic songs blared from loudspeakers.
Interior Minister Suleiman Fr"
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