Thousands of mourners flood into Beirut

23 Nov, 2006 11:34 / Updated 17 years ago

Lebanon is holding three days of mourning to remember the assassinated cabinet minister Pierre Gemayel. Thousands of people gathered in the capital Beirut's St. Martyrs square.

Many of them had signs with demands to stop the killings within the Lebanese government. Men, women and children woke up earlier today to come to the square and express their view on the assassination. The crowd had turned red-and-white due to the colour of the thousands of national flags which had been brought by the mourners. Many of people cried and expressed uncertainty in terms of what their future holds. Aleksandr Shumilin, director of the Middle East Analysis Centre, in the interview for Russia Today emphasised that “in fact, the political situation in Lebanon is very tense and there is even talk of a civil war. Everyone is worried about it, except those extremist organisations that provoked the situation”.