Vic: Protesters call for Syrian troops to leave Lebanon

AAP General News (Australia)
04-10-2005
Vic: Protesters call for Syrian troops to leave Lebanon

MELBOURNE, April 10 AAP - Hundreds of Lebanese Australians gathered in Melbourne today
to protest against the presence of Syrian military and intelligence forces in Lebanon.

Political and religious leaders were among members of the local Lebanese community
at the pro-Lebanon rally, held in Fitzroy, organisers said.

Ray Werden, spokesman for the group Lebanese Opposition in Victoria, said about 500
people gathered at the Edinburgh Gardens for the rally.

Mr Werden said they wanted a full investigation into the assassination of former Lebanese
prime minister Rafik Hariri, who was killed in February.

They also wanted Lebanese political prisoners released and the establishment of an
impartial interim government to oversee the upcoming election in Lebanon, he said.

Mr Werden said his organisation wanted the federal government to maintain pressure
on the world community to advocate for the continued withdrawal of Syrian troops from
Lebanon.

"We want to keep the momentum of pressure for the continued withdrawal of the Syrian
military and intelligence forces from Lebanon," he said.

Syrian troops entered Lebanon, ostensibly as peacekeepers, in the second year of the
1975-90 civil war.

They remained afterward, making Syria the undisputed power in that country.

The pro-Syrian Beirut government and Lebanese supporters of Syria have long argued
the country needs Syrian soldiers to maintain stability.

International pressure has increased on Syria to leave Lebanon since the February 14
assassination in Beirut of the former prime minister.

Earlier this month, UN envoy Terje Roed-Larsen said Syrian troops and intelligence
agents would be withdrawn from Lebanon by April 30.

At the time of Hariri's murder, Syria had 14,000 troops in Lebanon. It began withdrawing
them in March and about 8,000 remain in eastern Lebanon.

AAP kw/ce/cat/sd

KEYWORD: LEBANON PROTEST

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