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LEBANON: SLAIN PROTESTOR MADE 'MARTYR' December 6, 2006
Zainab Osman
(SomaliNet) Ahmed Mahmoud was heard of the day that he was gunned down in a street battle Sunday night. Hezbollah and its allies have transformed the first "martyr" of their fight to remove the U.S.-backed government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora from power into the centerpiece of their revolution.
Mahmoud, 20, was buried yesterday amid tears, anger and fear that he will not be the only "martyr" of Lebanon's deadlocked power struggle.
Late yesterday, a giant photo of Mahmoud was hoisted onto a stage at the centre of the tent city now occupying downtown Beirut. A candlelight vigil for the slain Shiite Muslim quickly became a boisterous rally, complete with Hezbollah war hymns, frenzied demonstrators and red-faced politicians invoking his name.
Thousands of Shiite Muslims and Christians allied to Hezbollah have rallied nearby for five days now, demanding the government's ouster.
Lebanon's political and sectarian tensions have been growing since November when Siniora rejected demands from the pro-Syrian opposition for a national unity government that would effectively give it veto power on key decisions. Opposition supporters have vowed to camp out downtown until Siniora and his cabinet step down.
But the cabinet, which is dominated by Sunni Muslims, Christians and Druze, refuses to give way. The ministers remain barricaded inside government headquarters, protected by tanks, razor wire and soldiers.
Though the city core has remained peaceful, protestors leaving the demonstration have clashed with government supporters in the largely Sunni neighborhoods south of downtown.
Mahmoud was killed in just such a clash in the Sunni quarter of Tariq Jedideh Sunday. Details of the battle are unclear, but fighting with rocks and sticks gave way to gunfire. Exactly who the gunmen were remains unknown.
Tensions, especially between Shiites and Sunnis, who largely support Siniora, remain high.