LEBANON:Tens of thousands gathered in Beirut to commemorate one fallen leader and show support for the pro-western government, while across the city mourners honoured a top Hizbullah military commander and chanted "death to America", writes Lucy Fielderin Beirut
Lebanon's political divide has rarely been starker.
But behind rain-spotted bullet-proof glass yesterday, Saad Hariri told crowds - huddled en masse beneath umbrellas to mark his father Rafik's murder three years ago - that he extended a hand across the divide to the opposition. Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah said the gesture would be reciprocated if it was a "sincere hand".
The two sides are battling over powersharing in a government to be formed once a more than two-month-old presidential vacuum is filled. Hizbullah demands a veto-wielding third of seats to ensure no major strategic decisions are made without it. The government refuses, accusing Hizbullah of acting on its ally Syria's orders.
Under a driving rain that did nothing to deter supporters of either side, Mr Hariri, the parliamentary majority leader, promised his followers that they would not have to endure for much longer the presidential crisis that started on November, when President Émile Lahoud stepped down with no successor.
"We want a president for the republic. They tried to assassinate Beirut, the international tribunal and the presidency by creating a void," Mr Hariri said.
Some of his allies were more inflammatory, with Christian Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea giving Hizbullah a message for its Syrian allies. "We won't allow the presidential seat to be your captive," he said. "You people tell them that we will resist until victory."
A towering statue of the late former prime minister, whose death many in Lebanon and abroad blamed on Syria, was unveiled near the seafront site of his death. A new gold flame monument marks the exact location of the explosion that plunged Lebanon into a crisis from which it has yet to emerge.
For weeks, billboards of the late Hariri - with what critics saw as divisive slogans about "our Lebanon" - and photograph-bedecked buses blaring patriotic anthems demanded a huge turnout yesterday and a show of strength.
Mr Hariri has made strident comments over the past week expressing willingness to face any confrontation. In the event, the crowds were at least matched by their political opponents at the funeral of Hizbullah commander Imad Mugnieh.
Security was tight, with a ban on weapons and mopeds, which youths sometimes use to scoot between trouble spots.
Soldiers blocked roads to the downtown area. Thousands of troops were mobilised in the centre to keep the two sides apart, largely preventing much-feared clashes, although some brawls broke out.
Ahmad Moussalli, a political science professor and expert on Islamists at the American University of Beirut, said that despite Mr Hariri's apparent peace offering, both sides stuck rigidly to their entrenched positions.
However, by telling Israel that if it wanted confrontation, Hizbullah was ready, Mr Nasrallah indicated a shift that would affect Lebanon, Mr Moussalli said."The swords are drawn now, but I think we may see a softening in the "14th March (anti-Syrian) position, because Hizbullah is getting serious and sees it as time to act, not react," he said.