‘WE ARE AFRAID:’ MOST OF BEIRUT SPENDS INDEPENDENCE DAY IN STATE OF SHOCK
By Iman Azzi

Daily Star – Lebanon
Nov 23 2006

BEIRUT: A day filled with quiet mourning and shock replaced planned
festivities to commemorate Independence Day on Wednesday after the
assassination of industry Minister Pierre Gemayel a day earlier. Blue
lines painted on Beirut’s streets in anticipation of a parade were
the only markings that remained of the expected celebrations as
stores stayed closed and people stayed home. The climate more closely
resembled that of a Sunday morning than a weekday afternoon.

"The future is black. Darker than black," said Pierre Suleiman,
owner of a small chicken restaurant in Hadath.

Few people dared to point fingers after the sixth prominent anti-Syrian
figure was assassinated since February 2005, but all expressed concern
over the future of the country.

Suleiman lived in Paris for five years and doesn’t want to move abroad
again. He doesn’t think it will come to that, but when asked if Prime
Minister Fouad Siniora’s government should resign, he was unsure.

"I don’t know," he said. "But how come those who used to collaborate
with Syria are still in the government? Syria left and they stayed?

Am I crazy?"

Roger, a Christian shopkeeper in Ain al-Roummaneh, thought the
government should resign but that assassinations were no path to peace.

"Probably [they should resign], because they can’t do anything,"
he said, adding that he didn’t think Gemayel’s assassination would
provoke the country into civil war.

"The assassinations need to stop, though," he added. "Whoever did it
doesn’t want the country to be fixed."

Hizbullah, Amal and Free Patriotic Movement flags flew together in
front of stores throughout the Dahiyeh. Hizbullah-funded patrols helped
direct traffic as men sold olives, bread and fruits on the sidewalks.

Rida Assaghir, an employee at a cell-phone store in Dahiyeh, said
everything in the southern suburbs was "normal."

He admitted that there were fewer cars on the streets but said that
he didn’t see an increase in tension.

"There was tension on the ‘Green Line’ last night but Hizbullah
controlled it," he added, referring to the former dividing line between
Muslims and Christians in Beirut during the 1975-1990 Civil War.

"Last night, there was a bit of tension. We saw tires burning … on
the television," Fatima, a mother of five, said while walking with
three of her children in Jammous. "I’m not into politics that much
and I can’t tell you who did it but the current situation is not very
comforting. We are afraid."

Some drivers in Achrafieh expressed their commitment to Gemayel’s
Phalange on Wednesday, waving the green cedar tree flag of the party
from the car windows.

"Achrafieh, Achrafieh," a convoy sang as it drove around the
predominantly Christian districts in East Beirut.

"We lost a good man. A great man," said Asaad as he sipped coffee
outside of a small convenience store in Gemmayzeh.

Most restaurants and bars along Gemmayzeh’s main artery remained
closed Wednesday after closing early on Tuesday.

"We don’t know who killed him but whoever it is, is trying to create
a divide between the government and Hizbullah. Maybe it’s Syria,
or Israel. Who knows?" he added.

A marching band played through the streets of Achrafieh, ending in
front of Phalange headquarters on Wednesday night. The peaceful vigil
gathered nearly 100 people and was organized by the two Armenian
youth parties.