Thousands mourn slain member of parliament, Ghanem, in Beirut

Sep 21, 2007, 8:44 GMT

Beirut - Thousands belonging to the anti-Syrian camp Friday mourned slain MP, Antoine Ghanem, who was killed two days ago in a bomb blast in the Christian eastern sector of the capital.

Mourners clad in black wailed as the three coffins of Ghanem and his two body guards left the hospital and headed for a church in the Badro neighbourhood, a Christian area east of the capital.

Followers of the Christian phalanagist party, to which Ghanem belonged, clapped their hands as the coffins passed through the street.

Women who lined the street threw rice on the coffins as they passed through their neighbourhood.

Druze Leader Walid Jumblatt, the head of the parliamentary bloc to which Ghanem belonged, headed the funeral procession and was seen walking through the streets, despite fears for his life.

'No one will scare me, I will keep talking and fighting the assassins of the Syrian regime of Bashar al Assad,' Jumblatt said in a brief comment to Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa as he entered the church.

'We are all here ... to show that the assassins that we are scared,' Marwan Hamadah, Telecommunications Minister, and a close ally of Jumblatt told dpa.

People stood clapping their hands as the coffins entered the church where the funeral mass will be held for the member of parliament.

Hundreds of supporters waved white and green Phalange flags outside a party office as the coffins passed through the area of Furn al Chuback.

Ghanem was the target of a car bomb attack in east Beirut on Wednesday that also killed six others.

He was the eighth anti-Syrian figure to be slain since the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri.

Ghanem's allies in Lebanon's anti-Syrian governing coalition blamed his death on Damascus, which condemned the attack.

Ghanem like former Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel, who was assassinated in November, belonged to the Christian Phalange Party.

Ghanem's death has now reduced the number of the majority to 68 in the 128-member parliament against a Shi'ite-Christian opposition bloc that includes Hezbollah, which is backed by Syria and Iran.

Parliament is due to meet on September 25 to elect a successor to pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud, but the vote is unlikely to take place owing to a lack of a two-thirds quorum, which could only be achieved if the opposing camps reached an agreement beforehand.

Failure to reach a consensus on the president could further divide Lebanon and lead to more violence.