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Anti-Syria Protests Mark Lebanese Leader's Funeral

Mourners gather in Beirut to attend the funeral of assassinated Lebanese politician Pierre Gemayel on Nov. 23, 3006.
Mourners gather in Beirut to attend the funeral of assassinated Lebanese politician Pierre Gemayel on Nov. 23, 3006.

Hundreds of thousands of Lebanese paid tribute to assassinated Christian politician Pierre Gemayel.

The protests turned his funeral in central Beirut Thursday into a display of defiance toward Syria and its Hezbollah allies and reinvigorated supporters of the U.S.-backed government.

Among them is Gemayel's father and a former president, Amin Gemayel, who told the crowd a second "independence uprising" has been launched and won't be stopped.

But the head of the Maronite Church called for unity to save the country. Lebanon's top Shiite politician, a Hezbollah ally, also attended the funeral in an attempt to show national unity.

Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Peter Kenyon
Peter Kenyon is NPR's international correspondent based in Istanbul, Turkey.