Hariri Supporters Rally to Demand Disarming of Hezbollah Forces

Nothing in the story about how many people showed up.

Edit, FWIW al Jazeera says tens of thousands.

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Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah, has said since July he expects some of his group’s members to be indicted by the UN-backed tribunal trying the Hariri murder. Hariri was killed along with 22 others by a roadside bomb in Beirut in 2005. Hezbollah denies links with the assassination.

The country has since witnessed at least seven political assassinations, fought a month long war with Israel in 2006, and civil unrest that killed about 80 people three years ago after Hezbollah and its allies took over parts of west Beirut.

Political divisions have led to a paralysis of public institutions preventing the passing of the 2010 budget in parliament for the sixth year.

Lebanon’s economy is forecast to grow 5 percent this year, slowing from 8 percent in 2010 and 9 percent in 2009, the International Monetary Fund said in an October report.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-13/hariri-supporters-rally-to-demand-disarming-of-hezbollah-forces.html

DAMASCUS - Thousands of Lebanese took to the streets of Beirut on Sunday demanding that Hezbollah disarm. Their demonstration, called for by ex-prime minister Saad al-Hariri, marked the sixth anniversary of a massive "Cedar revolution" in 2005 staged by the same players, which demanded the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon.

Worldwide media attention of this weekend's demonstration was minimal, however, as news agencies were busy covering the natural catastrophe in Japan and the ongoing war in Libya. The tiny Mediterranean country and its sectarian chiefs have also found themselves irrelevant amid the massive upheaval that has swept the Middle East and North Africa since January.

For weeks, Hariri's Future TV had been building momentum for the Sunday march, claiming that arms need to be controlled by the state, rather than non-state players like Hezbollah. Many argue, however, that had Hariri not been ejected from office through the collective resignation of 11 ministers from the Hezbollah-led camp last January, such a demonstration would have never taken place.

He seemed perfectly comfortable with a tactical alliance with Hezbollah between November 2009 and January 2011.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/MC15Ak01.html