>Date: 18 Feb 00 10:26:25 MST >From: Abu Nasr <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Dear comrades! > >In case the imperialist media somehow neglected to report on the student >demonstrations yesterday (Thursday, 17 Februrary 2000) against the US embassy, >I am sending on below the text of the coverage of the action from the >english-language Beirut bourgeois daily newspaper "The Daily Star". > >The demos were occasioned by the US support for the Zionist airraids on >Lebanese infrastructure on the 8th of this month which Clinton, Albright and >the US ambassador virtually justified on the grounds that the Lebanese >resistance had killed Zionist occupation troops while they illegally occupied >Lebanese soil. > >With revolutionary greetings! > >Abu Nasr >Follows the newspaper account: >-------------------------------- >Students gassed in US Embassy protest >Munira Khayyat >Daily Star staff > >Braving water cannon and tear gas unleashed by riot policemen, nearly 3,000 >students marched to the US Embassy in Awkar on Thursday to protest >Washingtonís bias toward Israel and demand the departure of US Ambassador >David Satterfield. >The protest was organized by students at the American University of Beirut. >But demonstrators from other universities and high schools made this the >biggest student action in years. >In a statement the US Embassy said that it supported the studentsí right to >freedom of expression, adding: ìWe have every confidence in the government of >Lebanonís commitment to preserve law and order and protect the safety of >diplomatic missions and personnel.î >The protest attracted more than twice the crowd mobilized last year to retake >Arnoun, the southern village cordoned off by Israel before students >symbolically liberated it on Feb. 28. >What began as a peaceful protest in Awkar by banner-wielding, slogan-chanting >protestors turned bloody when the crowd broke through police barricades about >9 kilometers from the embassy compound. At least three students were clubbed >and injured and two policemen were hit by stones, suffering minor cuts. >Several demonstrators collapsed from the tear gas fumes. >Anti-US sentiment has been brewing since US Secretary of State Madeleine >Albrightís remarks last week criticizing the Hizbullah attacks that sparked >the Feb. 8 blitz, which itself destroyed three power plants and wounded 22. >Albright called Hizbullah ìenemies of peace,î and US State Department >spokesman James Rubin reinforced the sentiment by blaming Hizbullah for the >ìcynical, deliberateî attempt to disrupt the peace process. >At first, the Awkar demonstrators stood behind the barbed-wire barriers that >security forces had erected before the protest. The students voiced their >anger at America by trampling a mock American flag stitched with skulls in >place of stars. Others waved an American flag intertwined with an Israeli >flag. >The crowd held up banners reading ìSatterfield leave before itís too late. Go >back to Israel,î and ìSatterfield F--k Off.î >As the number of students swelled with more buses arriving, those on the >frontline started to dismantle the police cordons, prompting a barrage of tear >gas and water cannon. >Braving pain- >ful jets of water, >demonstrators tore down the cordons before rushing for shelter from the >burning tear gas fumes. >As the gas dissipated, the raging throng regrouped, determined to break >through the lines of policemen and army troops. >Chanting ìMove, move police we want to march on Awkar,î and ìDeath to Israel, >death to America,î some protestors pelted police with stones and vegetables, >pushing the barricades back over 50 meters. >Police clubbed the front rank of protesters with batons. Having drawn blood, >they unleashed a heavier round of tear gas. >The harsh fumes left eyes and lungs burning and demonstrators, reporters and >security forces gasping for air. >But many students, anticipating the violence, had brought onions with them, >the smell of which helps mitigate the retching effect of tear gas. >ìI donít understand why the Lebanese police are defending Zionists,î gasped a >demonstrator, a law student, as tears poured from his bloodshot eyes. >As evening fell, after more than three hours of violent confrontation, the >crowd dispersed. >A group of around 200 students then made their way to the Beirut home of Prime >Minister Salim Hoss, carrying candles. They handed the premier a petition >asking the government to limit the movements of US diplomats in Lebanon and to >identify police officers responsible for the violence at Awkar. >Hoss promised to look into their second demand. As for the first, he cautioned >that at this phase, it was best to defuse tensions, rather than inflame them. > > > >-------------------------------- > >____________________________________________________________________ >Get free email and a permanent address at http://www.netaddress.com/?N=1 > > > --- from list [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- __________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki - Finland +358-40-7177941, fax +358-9-7591081 e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.kominf.pp.fi ___________________________________ [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe/unsubscribe messages mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ___________________________________
