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Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair gestures as he speaks during a joint news conference held with Lebanon's Prime Minister Fuad Saniora at Government House in downtown Beirut, Monday. (AP)
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| By Associated Press September 11, 2006 |
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An angry protester accusing Tony Blair of complicity in the recent Israeli bombardment of Lebanon disrupted a news conference and thousands more shouted outside Monday as the British prime minister visited Beirut in a show of support for the devastated nation's government.
"This visit is an insult," the woman shouted as Blair and Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora spoke at Saniora's office complex. "Shame on you Tony Blair."
She held a banner that said "Boycott Israeli apartheid" in front of live TV cameras until security guards holding her by her arms and legs carried her out. The two leaders stood quietly as she shouted.
The protester was identified as Caoimhe Butterly, a well-known Irish peace activist.
"It's all right, we are in a democracy...we respect all sorts of expression," a calm Saniora said.
Blair said he understood the anger in Lebanon, where many saw his refusal to break ranks with U.S. President George W. Bush to call for a quick cease-fire during 34 days of fighting as tacit support for Israel's offensive. More than 850 people were killed in Lebanon, most of them civilians.
"Of course feelings run high, innocent people lost their lives here, this country...has been set back by years," said Blair, the second Western leader to come to Beirut since fighting erupted in July.
He pledged Britain would help Lebanon rebuild. Both he and Saniora said pushing for a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was crucial to securing stability in the entire region.
"I hope out of...what has been a tragic and terrible time, we can rebuild in a way that gives not just lasting peace here in the Lebanon but a lasting peace in the region," Blair said. "I believe it can be done. And furthermore I commit myself for the remainder of my time in office to do everything I can to bring that about."
Saniora said the Palestinian issue was the core issue in the region and the Islamic world, calling on Blair "to play a positive role in reviving the peace process."
"Only by addressing the underlying causes can we guarantee peace and security for the Middle East," Saniora added.
Outside, about 5,000 protesters -- kept about half a mile from the government headquarters -- shouted angry chants.
"Blair, you are not welcome in Lebanon," read one banner. "Blair, you are a killer, go away," said another.
Protesters waved Lebanese flags and photos of some of the hundreds killed in Lebanon during the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas that ended in mid August.
"America is the greatest Satan, and Blair is the dog of the Satan," some protesters shouted.
Much of central Beirut was closed to traffic and about 2,000 police and soldiers, many wearing riot and battle gear, guarded the area around Saniora's office and the roads from the airport.
But there was no sign of trouble or violence. Hezbollah activists surrounded the protesters to keep them from straying beyond the allowed boundaries or from clashing with security forces.
Lebanon's parliament speaker, a close ally of the Hezbollah militant group, had been scheduled to meet Blair but left Beirut on Saturday in what some saw as a snub to the first British prime minister to ever visit the country.
Blair's official spokesman said as he arrived in Beirut from Jerusalem that he would not be surprised to be greeted by protests. The spokesman said Blair also was not concerned about Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri's decision to back out of their planned meeting.
Blair, who was scheduled to stay in Beirut for only a few hours, did not meet with Lebanese President Emile Lahoud, who has been shunned by Western leaders in the past year because of his close ties to Syria.
Blair's spokesman said he had been willing to talk to the government's two Hezbollah ministers but they chose not to attend a meeting he held with the Lebanese Cabinet.
Blair was most interested in seeing Saniora, the pro-Western prime minister, the Blair spokesman said, speaking on condition of anonymity in keeping with government policy.
The Lebanese leader had -- during the war -- invited Blair to visit once it ended and Blair accepted, eager to show his support for Saniora and the U.N. resolution that ended the fighting and called for the Lebanese government's authority to be respected around the country, the spokesman said.
Saniora greeted Blair at the airport and they drove into Beirut together in a 22-vehicle motorcade.
Lebanon's most senior Shiite Muslim cleric said Sunday that he held Blair responsible for the deaths of those killed during the Israeli offensive.
Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah called Blair a "killer of children, women and the elderly" and said he should be declared "persona non grata" rather than welcomed to Beirut.
Blair's handling of the conflict also caused him tremendous political problems at home, fueling a rebellion in his governing Labour Party that forced him to announce last week he intended to resign within a year.
Blair has defended his stance on the Lebanon war, saying it was important to take the time to craft a settlement that would hold rather than settle for a quick peace likely to collapse.
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