Lebanese in US capital protest murder

‘One way ticket out of Lebanon,’ demonstrators chanted

WASHINGTON - Rola Abdul Latif

February 2005

A small but loud crowd gathered in front of the Syrian embassy in Washington DC four days after the brutal murder of former Lebanese premier Rafik Hariri to express outrage at his assassination and call for an end to the Syrian occupation of Lebanon.

Hariri is a billionaire who led the massive reconstruction effort after the end of the Lebanese civil war in 1990 and served for a total of ten years as Prime Minister.

A majority of the Lebanese people blamed the Syrian intelligence in Lebanon and the current Syrian-backed Lebanese government for the massive explosion that blew up Hariri’s motorcade, killing him along with fourteen others and wounding about a hundred innocent by-passers.

The protest, which brought together less than a hundred people to Wyoming Avenue, where the Syrian embassy is located, was organized by independent Lebanese and American students in Georgetown, Maryland, and Johns Hopkins universities alongside activists from a number of Lebanese parties and organizations.

Organizing parties included the Free Patriotic Movement, the Progressive Socialist Party, and the Lebanese Forces and were joined by independent supporters as well as few members of the newly-formed Democratic Left Movement.

The DC-based Lebanese American Council for Democracy, which spearheaded the drafting and adoption of the Syria Accountability Act by US congress, was also among the protest’s sponsor groups. 

Protestors stood in front of the Syrian embassy defying the cold weather and raising American and Lebanese flags, banners, and pictures of Hariri and other late prominent Lebanese politicians (presidents-elect Rene Mouawad and Bashir Gemayel believed to have been similarly assassinated by the Syrian Baathist regime).

The crowd was very enthusiastic singing the Lebanese national anthem repeatedly and chanting anti-Syrian slogans such as “Syria Out, Baathist Regime is Terrorist and One Way Ticket Out of Lebanon.”

Demonstrators also called on the US, the European Union, and the world community at large to implement UN resolution 1559 which calls for the respect of Lebanon’s sovereignty, thereby stipulating the withdrawal of all foreign troops from the country.

Hariri, who has been considered politically moderate by Lebanese standards, has only recently become a principal figure in the opposition calling for an end of Syrian hegemony and respect for Lebanon’s freedom and independence.

The Lebanese opposition has been building unprecedented strength and widespread support as it overcame sectarian divisions and partisan differences which previously posed an obstacle to any kind of national dialogue.

The big number of people from all sects and affiliations, estimated at more than 750,000, who flocked to the streets of Beirut to participate in Hariri’s funeral processions, stood as a clear indicator for the growing weight of the opposition, according to analysts. This in turn was evident in the narrowing of similar gaps among Lebanese living in America.

Surely, the group that managed to show up on Wyoming Avenue this Friday was in no way reflective of the size of the Lebanese movement in the US condemning the Hariri killing and Syria’s meddling in Lebanese affairs. But organizers told Alternative that they opted to hold the protest on a weekday during work hours of the Syrian Embassy.

The DC demonstration was the first in a series of protests that were expected to take place in front of Syrian embassies in different countries where the Lebanese Diaspora is sizeable, according to activist sources.