Lebanese Government Resigns Amid Protests

Monday, February 28, 2005

BEIRUT, Lebanon — With shouts of "Syria out!," more than 25,000 flag-waving protesters massed outside Parliament on Monday in a dramatic display of defiance that swept out Lebanon's pro-Syrian government two weeks after the assassination of a former prime minister.

Cheering broke out among the demonstrators in Martyrs' Square when they heard Prime Minister Omar Karami's announcement on loudspeakers that the government was stepping down. Throughout the day, protesters handed out red roses to soldiers and police.

Many in Lebanon accuse Syria and Karami's government of being behind former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri's Feb. 14 slaying and the death of 16 others in a huge bombing, pressing hard in the two weeks since his death for the government to resign and for Syria to withdraw its roughly 15,000 troops positioned in Lebanon.

"We want no other army in Lebanon except the Lebanese army!" protesters chanted, climbing the martyrs' statue and praying before candles at Hariri's flower-covered grave, which lies at the piazza's edge.

Karami's Cabinet will continue as a caretaker government. The next step is for the president to appoint a prime minister after consulting with parliament members. The new prime minister consults parliamentary blocs to form a Cabinet that must withstand a parliamentary vote of confidence.

Karami replaced the billionaire Hariri, credited with playing a key role in rebuilding Lebanon after its devastating 1975-1990 civil war.

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