I wonder how you say “How do ya like them apples” in Lebanese?
BEIRUT - An emboldened Lebanese opposition mobilized more than 800,000 people Monday to demand an end to Syrian military domination of Lebanon, hurling a potent challenge to the Syrian-backed government here.Beirut city official Mounib Nassereddine said the estimate of 800,000 did did not include demonstrators who were still arriving from all parts of the country ahead of the rally.
Thousands of Lebanese had made their way throughout the morning to the capital by car, bus and boat, heading for Martyrs Square and the grave of former prime minister Rafiq Hariri, assassinated exactly one month ago in a bomb blast.
Lebanese television aired spectacular pictures of a massive throng in the square, showing thousands of demonstrators waving the red, white and green Lebanese flag in bright sunshine against the deep blue of the Mediterranean in the background.
Some later estimates put the crowd’s numbers at 1.3 million.
I like this picture too. Pretty damned good for being organized on such short (2 days) notice:
Far from being intimidated by the massive outpouring that Baby Assad and his Hizballah toadies managed to force into into the streets a few days ago (reports say that perhaps as many as half of the 500,000 demonstrators were actually bussed in from the Syrian border) the pro-democracy demonstrators seem to have been energized by it.
Plus, Lebanese President Emile Lahoud may have miscalculated when, after the gun-toting thugs from Hizballah had orchestrated their demonstration, he felt emboldened enough to ask Prime Minister Omar Karameh (who he had fired 10 days ago) to try and form another government. The effort failed when the opposition rebuffed the offer and demanded that the Syrians immediately withdraw from Lebanon and a “government of national unity” made up of Sunni’s, Druze, Christians, and Shia’s be formed.
If I were Lahoud, I’d start listening to the millions in the streets rather than his master in Damascus who finds that he’s slowly losing control of events and running out of time to boot.
UPDATES, PICTURES, AND COMMENTARY AND HOTTIES!:
Chrenkoff
Michelle Malkin
Little Green Footballs
Captains Quarters
Wizbang
Protein Wisdom
Ace of Spadesand here too!
UPDATE II
Athena at the excellent blog Terrorism Unveiled is not only blogging the demonstration, she was kind enough to translate the first line of my post…”How do you say ‘How do you like them apples?’ in Lebanese?”
Roughly translated: Keef toheb hada tufaah? Take that Hizballah!
UPDATE III
More fantastic Photo’s (more hotties and other great shots!)
12:37 pm
Cedar: Bite As Bad As Its Bark
BEIRUT - An emboldened Lebanese opposition mobilized more than 800,000 people Monday to demand an end to Syrian military domination of Lebanon, hurling a potent challenge to the Syrian-backed government here. Beirut city official Mounib Nassereddine s…
3:00 pm
This is simply too beautiful. How the Left Elite were quavering in their boots (read: tittelated at a potential Bush Doctrine loss) apres the phony Hizballah bussed-in demonstration last week.
5:47 pm
there isn’t a single major news outlet making this their lead story right now. Thats bad. This is a big deal.
5:55 pm
Keef toheb hada tufaah?
“How do you like them apples?” – rough translation, not really sure about the nuance of inappropriately using “them”
=)
6:47 pm
Great Demonstration Pics
You may have already seen most of these, but you ought to take a chance and click here. Amazing. Rightwingnuthouse asks, “How do you say ‘how you like them apples?’ in Arabic?”...
7:47 pm
Quick update from the front (Beirut)
I’ve been trying to arrange an appropriate time (across 8 time zones) to catch up by phone with my friend Ziad in Beirut.
This morning, I got an update from him
8:16 pm
Fighting back.
The right way And no government sponsoring of that one. Somehow they all managed to get there without being bribed or coerced, and even without free bus trips. I wonder why they made such an attempt? Could it be that they understand the value of freed…
9:24 pm
And the NYT just picked it up.
11:53 pm
Massive Demonstration for Lebanese Freedom
It started Sunday night as thousands of Lebanese gathered for a candlelight vigil in “Martyr’s Square” in Beirut. The held their candles to form the word “Truth”, signifying their demand that the truth behind the brutal assassination of forme…
1:01 am
Given that population of Lebanon is 3,777,218 (July 2004 est., according to the CIA World Factbook) – those numbers are even more incredible. 800,000 is one in five. Equivalent for the US would be 60 million.