Huge Beirut rally piles pressure on US-backed govt

BEIRUT, Dec 10 (Reuters) Hundreds of thousands of chanting protesters swamped Beirut on Sunday in a Hezbollah-led rally that marked a leap forward in the opposition's drive to unseat Lebanon's Western-backed government.

In a huge show of force, crowds waving a forest of red-and-white Lebanese flags crammed into two vast squares to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora.

''Siniora out,'' demonstrators chanted. ''Beirut is free,'' others yelled in what one security source called the biggest rally in Lebanese history.

Giant loudspeakers blared out nationalist songs and drummers thudded a relentless beat on the 10th day of a round-the-clock rotest aimed at forcing Siniora and his Sunni-backed majority to set up a government of national unity.

The noise was clearly audible inside the nearby government headquarters where Siniora and most of his ministers are holed up. Armoured vehicles, rings of razor wire and hundreds of soldiers and police guarded the former Ottoman fortress.

There were no official estimates of the crowd size today, but both police and army sources said the rally was enormous. Opposition sources said 2 million men, women and children had taken part -- roughly half Lebanon's population.

Speakers told the throngs that the government was in the thrall of the United States, repeating accusations that Siniora's allies had hoped Israel would crush the Shi'ite militant group Hezbollah in its recent war with Israel.

''I tell you that after the (Israeli) aggression ... there is no place for America in Lebanon,'' said Hezbollah deputy chief Sheikh Naim Kassem, speaking behind bullet proof-glass.

The crowd responded: ''Death to America, death to Israel, long live a dignified Lebanon.'' COUP THREAT Siniora has accused Hezbollah of trying to stage a coup following its war and commentators have warned the worsening stand-off could degenerate into sectarian violence in a country that is still trying to rebuild after a 1975-90 civil war.

Whereas the last civil war started out primarily as a fight between Christian and Muslim militia, the main faultline now lies between Lebanon's Sunni community and the Shi'ites.

One Shi'ite protester has been killed and several people hurt in shooting incidents, riots and clashes between supporters of both sides over the past week.

The prime minister told a conference on Sunday the future of Lebanon was at stake, but said the country's democracy was strong enough to absorb the shock of the protests.

''This challenge covers the vision of Lebanon's future, the future of its system and its place in the region and the world.'' Underlining the political passions at play, tens of thousands of pro-government supporters staged a rally on Sunday in the Sunni city of Tripoli in northern Lebanon.

Pope Benedict urged Lebanon today to back away from political crisis and asked the international community to help find urgent, peaceful solutions at this ''grave moment''.

The pro-Syrian Hezbollah and its allies, which include a populist Christian party headed by former general Michel Aoun,, want to be handed the power of veto in a new government.

Aoun told the crowds that if Siniora did not concede ''in the next few days'', the opposition would demand instead a transitional government to open the way for early elections.

Siniora's supporters say Hezbollah simply wants to derail plans to set up an international tribunal to try suspects in the 2005 assassination of former prime minister Rafik al-Hariri, which many Lebanese blame on Syria -- a charge Damascus denies.

In a sign of defiance, a government official said Siniora had called a cabinet meeting for Tuesday, with the international court included on the agenda.

REUTERS PDM RN2231