Remembering Hariri

last updated 8 January 2015

Beirut

Beirut was a sea of red, white, and green flags this week as 1 million Lebanese turned out to mark the first anniversary of the assassination of former prime minister Rafik Hariri. The city was festooned with posters of Hariri, who was killed in a car bombing that U.N. investigators say was ordered by Syrian officials. “He taught, rebuilt, and liberated,” read one banner. “They feared you and killed you,” said another. Addressing the throngs from behind bulletproof glass, Hariri’s son, Saad Hariri, called for the resignation of pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud, “the symbol of foreign domination.” Not everyone was protesting, though: Most Shiite Muslim groups, which support Syria, boycotted the demonstrations.