LEBANON: Killed Shi'ite protester buried while Lebanese army on high alert - Siniora calls for dialogue.

Lebanon's Hezbollah-led opposition held a mass funeral in Beirut on Tuesday (December 5) for an anti-government protester killed in a shooting which has heightened political and sectarian tension. At the same time the army has been heavily deployed throughout Beirut after fears of sectarian strife are increasing in Lebanon. The army is on high alert specially after the death of the protester. Ahmed Mahmoud was shot dead in a Sunni neighbourhood on Sunday (December 3) as he returned from the third day of protests against the western-backed government. Security sources said gunmen had fired at a group who were returning from the protests through the Sunni Qasqas neighbourhood of Beirut, killing the young man, who was shot in the back with an automatic rifle, and wounding 12 others. A van carrying protesters was stoned as it drove through Qasqas earlier in the day. The army broke up the crowd, but later on the shooting incident took place. Thousands of mourners attended the funeral carrying Lebanese, Hezbollah, and Amal movement flags. The pro-Syrian opposition blames the Western-backed government for the killing of Shi'ite Muslim Ahmed Mahmoud. Prime Minister Fouad Siniora has condemned the killing and ordered a full inquiry, an official from his office said. The shooting in a Sunni Muslim district loyal to Hariri has heightened tensions between Sunnis and Shi'ites, whose leaders stand at either end of the political divide. Hariri is the son and political heir of murdered former premier Rafik al-Hariri. Tensions are also high between Christians allied to the rival camps. Many politicians and observers have said the political tussle could spill into another civil war in country that has suffered two in the last 50 years. According to Ayoub Hmeid, who is an Amal movement member of parliament, the spirituality in the funeral verifies the preservation of internal stability. "The participation today in the funeral of the martyr Ahmed Mahmoud is a continuation of the expression of the national opposition stance that is peaceful. If anger takes a hold of the hearts and the conscious then the spirituality that appeared today is a verification of the preservation of internal stability," Hmeid said. The Lebanese army has deployed heavily around Beirut. Soldiers in armoured vehicles guard major road junctions and coils of razor wire block off streets leading to the government headquarters, where Siniora and his ministers are holed up. Siniora has condemned the killing and one of his allies urged their supporters on Tuesday to show self-restraint and accuse the opposition of trying to derail an international tribunal into the 2005 killing of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, which many Lebanese blame on Syria -- a charge Damascus denies. "Only the right thing will happen, and what is legitimate will reign. All that they are doing (opposition protesters) is going to fail with God's will. They want to cancel the international tribunal but it is going to happen whether they like it or not. If they can eradicate the population let them rule (Hezbollah supporters)," Mahmoud Seif al Dein, a pro -government citizen said. According to Lebanese prime minister Fouad Siniora the only way out of this situation is to return to rationality and through dialogue. "The solution is to return to rationality, to the path that could lead to a real solution, it is through dialogue. This is what our religion, what our morals dictate, and this is what our nationalism forces us to do. There is no other path other than dialogue, discussions of what brings us together and solving what breaks us apart," Siniora said.

ITN Source | December 5, 2006

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