With Fouad Siniora’s cabinet hiding in the Grand Serail behind acres of razor wire and thousands of troops – a veritable “green zone” in the heart of Beirut – the largely Shia Muslim opposition, assisted by their Christian allies, brought up to two million supporters into the centre of the city yesterday to declare the forthcoming creation of a second Lebanese administration. A “transitional” government is what ex-general Michel Aoun called it, while Naeem Qassem, Hizbollah’s deputy chairman, spoke ominously of the mass demonstrations as “the separatist day”.
From:http://news.independent.co.uk/world/fisk/article2064767.ece
But there is very little coverage in the Western Media of by far the largest demonstration ever in Lebanon. 2 million is about 50% of the countries population. Now a short while ago the March 14 movement was demonstarting in much smaller numbers against the previous elected government and it fell. The west announced this as democracy. Now with an opposition that represents over half of the country and who it seems can put about half of the population on the streets the west cries coup attempt.
That the Shia who represent 40%+ of the entire Lebanese population and who are currently massively underrepresented in the sectarian quota election system want more representation is hardly touched on by our free press. That the opposition includes two Christian groups led by former anti-Syrian army General Aoun is glossed over. Unless one reads the Angry Arab there really is only Fisk to rely on.
