Lebanese protest at UN building in Beirut in solidarity with Gaza

Dec 28, 2008, 8:46 GMT

Beirut - Hundreds converged at the United Nations building in Beirut on Sunday to protest Israel's deadly raids on the Gaza Strip and show solidarity with the Palestinian people.

Dozens of soldiers and other members of the security forces were deployed to the UN headquarters in downtown Beirut. The protesters, mostly from the Sunni groupings in Lebanon and Hamas were kept several hundred metres (yards) away from the building.

Men riding motorbikes and carrying black flags, wearing the traditional Palestinian headdress and chanting 'God help our people in Gaza,' were among the protesters.

One of the protesters told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa, 'We are here to show our solidarity with the oppressed people of Gaza and ask the world community to intervene to stop the bloodshed.'

'Where the Arab leaders?' a placard carried by the protestors read.

The UN Security Council early Sunday called for an immediate end to all military actions in the Gaza Strip.

On Saturday, followers of Lebanon's Shiite Hezbollah Movement held a rally in Beirut's southern suburbs in support of the Gaza population following Israeli airstrikes.

Similar protests were held in several Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon. Some 367,000 Palestinian refugees live in 12 camps across the country.