Horn-blowing
motorcades paraded through Beirut Friday as activists
of the outlawed Lebanese Forces protested the government's
7-year-old ban of the group and demanded the release
of jailed LF leader Samir Geagea.
The ban was clamped in 1994 in the wake of a deadly
bomb blast that killed 10 worshippers in the church
of Notre Dame De la Délivrance in Zouk Mekael
north of Beirut. A court has cleared Geagea from involvement.
Flag-bedecked
car convoys rolled through busy streets with chanting
LF students waving portraits of Geagea and LF founder
Bashir Gemayel, who was assassinated upon his election
for Lebanon's presidency in 1982.
The
students first assembled at camps and then set out
on the horn-honking parade with martial music and
patriotic songs blaring from loudspeakers. They shouted
demand for the cancellation of the ban.
Supporters
of Michel Aoun as well as Phalangist and National
Liberal students took part in the parades. Police
made no moves to stop the protests.
