Lebanonwire.com | Grieving journalists protest killing of Lebanon columnist

Top Banner

June 3, 2005

Grieving journalists protest killing of Lebanon columnist

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Hundreds of grieving Lebanese journalists stood in silence early Friday in Martyrs' Square in downtown Beirut to denounce the assassination of prominent anti-Syrian writer Samir Kassir.

Wearing black and white, journalists gathered around the Statue of the Martyrs for one hour of silence, in response to a call for the protest by the An Nahar newspaper, where Kassir was a prominent editorial writer.

Many journalists raised black-and-white portraits of the slain journalist.

"Martyr of the uprising for the independence," read a large portrait of Kassir raised on the square which had been the site of a popular upheaval earlier this year against Syrian domination of the country.

Silence was just briefly interrupted by bells tolling from a nearby church in solidarity with the journalists.

"This hour of silence is a protest against the attempt to silence the media," said the presenter of the LBCI television station which covered the protest live.

The upheaval was triggered by the February 14 assassination of former prime minister Rafiq Hariri that rushed the withdrawal of Syrian troops which was completed at the end of April under intense international pressure.

Traffic was slow across the capital where a general strike called by the opposition was only partly observed, with some shops, malls and schools remaining shut.

The street where Kassir was killed by a bomb planted in his car was still closed by security forces in the Ashrafiyeh neighborhood.

"Observing the strike is the least we can do when a journalist like Samir Kassir is assassinated," Sharbel, the owner of several clothing shops across the capital and who did not wish to reveal his family name, told AFP.

"But the problem is that shops and businesses cannot afford it anymore: we have suffered repeated closures and slow business since Hariri's assassination. We have lost 50 percent of our business since then," he explained.

Some radio stations decided to interrupt their programmes to air classical music on Friday.

A candlelit vigil was planned by the opposition for Friday evening on Martyrs' Square and a large demonstration for Monday over Kassir's killing which was condemned by the international community.

The opposition has blamed the pro-Syrian regime for Kassir's assassination and called for the resignation of Damascus protege President Emile Lahoud.

Kassir was also professor of political science and published several books on the Lebanese civil war and the history of Beirut.