BEIRUT, 1 March 2005 — The pro-Syrian Lebanese government of Omar Karami resigned yesterday after a show of people power in the streets of Beirut, two weeks after the assassination of former Premier Rafik Hariri.
“I am keen that the government will not be a hurdle in front of those who want the good for this country. I declare the resignation of the government that I had the honor to head. May God preserve Lebanon,” Karami said.
The resignation was a huge victory for the opposition and the most dramatic moment yet in the series of protests and political maneuvers that have shaken Lebanon and its government since the assassination of Hariri.
Jubilant demonstrators immediately shouted for pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud to step down next.
Karami’s Cabinet will continue as a caretaker government. The next step is for the president to appoint a prime minister after consulting with Parliament members. The new prime minister consults parliamentary blocs to form a Cabinet that must withstand a parliamentary vote of confidence.
Karami’s government had a majority and was expected to win a no-confidence vote that was meant to close a parliamentary debate on Hariri’s assassination that shocked Lebanon to the core and brought back memories of its 1975-90 civil war.
“Today the government fell. Tomorrow, it’s the one huddled in Anjar,” opposition leader Elias Atallah told the crowd to cheers, referring to the Syrian intelligence chief based in the eastern Lebanese town of Anjar. He said the opposition will continue its actions until all demands are met. The protesters went further, shouting: “Lahoud, your turn is coming!”
“The people have won,” main opposition leader Walid Jumblatt told LBC television after Karami’s resignation.
Yesterday’s peaceful protests against the government and its Syrian backers were unprecedented in their scale and scope. Banks, schools and businesses closed in a general strike the opposition called to coincide with the debate. A government ban on protests escalated the tension, but thousands defied it, some by camping out overnight in central Beirut. Hundreds of Lebanese soldiers with assault rifles had fanned out in downtown Beirut and barred roads to the protest scene and to Parliament with metal barricades and barbed wire. But protesters who pushed through met little resistance.
Martyrs Square, by Hariri’s grave, was a sea of Lebanese flags — red and white with a cedar tree in the center. Thousands of protesters watched the debate live on large screens while loudspeakers blared patriotic songs. “Syria out” and “Freedom, sovereignty, independence”, they chanted.
Cheers and applause broke out when Karami resigned.
In Parliament, opposition MPs wearing the red-and-white scarves that have come to symbolize their movement, gave a standing ovation.
“The battle is not over. It is just beginning. We want to know who killed Prime Minister Hariri,” opposition legislator Faris Saeed said, addressing the crowd.
“The battle is long, and this is the first step, this is the battle for freedom, sovereignty and independence,” opposition MP Ghattas Khouri said.
In Damascus, a Syrian official source said the resignation of the Karami government was Lebanon’s internal affair. “This is an internal affair. Lebanon has the constitutional channels that govern these issues,” said the official source.
