07 March 2005	Monday	25 Muharram 1426

BEIRUT: Ever since former prime minister Rafik Hariri was killed in a car explosion, two pillars of opposition have stood out.

The first is the opposition members of parliament, a coalition of diverse groups that has vowed to carry on the fight till the complete departure of the Syrian military and intelligence apparatus from Lebanon. But the second group is the one that the opposition could not succeed without. This is people power - mostly youth power - in a continuing and forceful expression of dissatisfaction with Syrian involvement in Lebanon.

Since Feb 14 when Hariri and more than a dozen of his bodyguards, companions, and innocent bystanders were killed in Beirut, thousands - often tens of thousands - have held daily demonstrations in Beirut's Martyrs Square.

The power of the demonstrations and the pressure that they have been able to put on the government, and the impact of live broadcast on international television channels is not lost on opposition leaders, who have called on the youth to keep up their presence.

"One reason this movement to correct things cannot fail is the power of the young people who have been demonstrating day and night at the Martyrs Square in Beirut," opposition leader Nayla Moawadh told IPS. "We as politicians cannot afford to fail these people. There will be a price to pay if we fail them, and fail ourselves."

Scores of youths, most in their teens and 20s, have erected camps at the square next to Hariri's burial site.

"I am from Beirut. I am a Lebanese. What they did killed something inside all of us," Liz Nasrallah, a 20-year-old camping student told IPS. "I called a couple of friends, we all decided to come and stay here until we get the full truth."

She and others like her are the hard core of the demonstrations, but they are not the only ones.

Every morning since Feb 14, demonstrators arrive daily to pack into the football field size square flanked by the Mohammed Al-Amin mosque, Hariri's burial site, and residential buildings.

On orders from political leaders, they have been carrying the Lebanese flag, and shouting non-sectarian but often anti-Syria slogans such as "2005, Year of Independence", and "Now, Now, Syria Out".

The protest movement is not entirely made up of youngsters, but they are at the core of the daily ritual. The atmosphere is politically charged. Emotion-filled speeches are made, calling for independence of the country from Syria. The protest has also other expressions of a youth movement by way of songs and occasional dance.

"It is definitely the young who have been carrying the burden because the youth are the next generation. They are the ones who will live here," Rami Kadi, a 25-year-old Lebanese from Beirut told IPS at the square.

He said one reason that the young have turned out is that the government has made it harder for the elderly to participate.

"They have closed a lot of the streets leading to the square," he said. "They say it is for security but in fact it is to prevent the old from coming. Okay, some may not have come, but instead many of the youth have come."

The youth movement has a wide ethnic and religious composition. But when it comes to the continuous and daily marches and overnight stays at the square, the Christians have carried the day.

"Let's not forget, many of the slogans that are being carried out today by the opposition as a whole are things we Christians have been calling for many years," former president Amin Gemayel told IPS.

The Christians have been the epicentre of the anti-Syrian movement in Lebanon for years, and right up to the assassination of Hariri constituted the majority of the people who openly dared oppose the Syrian domination of Lebanon.

"Hariri's killing opened the floodgates and many Christians who felt bottle-necked now felt free to pour out," said a Christian protestor who asked not to be named. "Many Christians have been angrier than Muslims. But the beauty of the situation is that this is no longer a Christian movement. This has become a truly Lebanese movement, and it will not go away."

The resignation of Prime Minister Omar Karami this week has somewhat slowed down the pace of the protest. Many demonstrators have gone home and many only come back to the square at night because they still have to go to work or school during the day. But they and opposition politicians say the slowdown is temporary.

"They have gone home because they are exhausted. But if the government decides to drag its feet (in investigation the assassination) or Syrians do not leave, people will pour into the streets again," says Moawadh.-Dawn/The InterPress News Service.