Fear and gloom in Lebanon

With Independence Day celebrations cancelled, Lebanon was engulfed in fear and gloom on Wednesday as it prepared to bury Cabinet minister and Christian leader Pierre Gemayel...

With Independence Day celebrations cancelled, Lebanon was engulfed in fear and gloom on Wednesday as it prepared to bury Cabinet minister and Christian leader Pierre Gemayel, following his assassination on Tuesday.

Schools and shops were closed and traffic was light as Gemayel’s coffin, draped in the flag of his Phalange Party, was driven to the family’s home in Bikfaya for mourning ceremonies before the funeral scheduled for Thursday.

Gemayel, minister of industry and scion of a prominent political family, was killed on Tuesday when two cars blocked his vehicle at an intersection in the suburbs of Beirut and an assassin shot him numerous times through a side window of his car. His killing— the fifth murder of an anti-Syrian figure in Lebanon in two years— immediately drew condemnation from all quarters.

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US President George W Bush accused Syria and Iran of seeking to undermine the government of Prime Minister Fouad Saniora, though he stopped short of blaming them for the 34-year- old Gemayel’s slaying. Syria too condemned the assassination and denied any role in it.

President Emile Lahoud went on national television late Tuesday to announce Wednesday’s Independence Day celebrations had been cancelled. He offered condolences to Gemayel’s father, former President Amin Gemayel, a political opponent of Lahoud.

Politicians from all sides scrambled to contain the fallout of the assassination, urging calm amid fears of an outbreak of the brutal violence between Lebanon’s sharply divided communities that marked the 1975-90 civil war.

Prime Minister Saniora called for unity and warned that “sedition” was being planned against Lebanon.