Tens of thousands of people gathered in Beirut on Friday for a mass protest organized by Lebanon's Shiite Hezbollah movement against Israel's crippling blockade of the Gaza Strip. Streets in the southern suburbs were cordoned off as demonstrators waving Palestinian flags and yellow Hezbollah flags poured into the Hezbollah stronghold as loudspeakers blasted out a speech by its chief, Hassan Nasrallah. "We are responsible, like all Arabs and Muslims, to completely liberate Palestine, from the river to the sea," Hezbollah's deputy head Naim Kassem told the crowd. "The Palestinian cause is a just cause," he said from a platform on a main road in the area.
| " We are responsible, like all Arabs and Muslims, to completely liberate Palestine, from the river to the sea, " Hezbollah deputy head Naim Kassem |
Some protesters chanted "Death to Israel! Death to America!" as others carried placards reading "No peace if it leads to humanitarian catastrophe" and "May God protect our leader Nasrallah."
"Demonstrations aren't enough. Military action is required to eliminate Israel," said Mosbah Karout, 42, in Beirut from south Lebanon for the event.
Similar smaller demonstrations were held in cities in the south, north and in the Bekaa Valley, east of the capital.