Protests paralyse Lebanon, two killed, 100 hurt

BEIRUT, Jan 23 (Reuters) Protesters trying to topple Lebanon's cabinet blocked highways with blazing tyres today, sparking clashes with government loyalists in which two people were killed and at least 100 people hurt, police said.

The violence raised the stakes in a campaign by Iranian- and Syrian-backed Hezbollah and its Shi'ite and Christian allies to oust Prime Minister Fouad Siniora's Western-supported government and hold early parliamentary elections.

Lebanese troops tried to keep rival groups apart, but police said a member of the Christian pro-government Lebanese Forces party was shot dead in the town of Batroun, north of Beirut.

Another person was shot and killed in the mainly Sunni Muslim northern port of Tripoli. Police said gunfire wounded 35 people, many of them in the Christian towns of Byblos and Halba.

Siniora delayed plans to leave for Paris, where he is to attend an international aide conference for Lebanon. Officials said he would address the nation at 6:30 p.m. 2200 hrs ist.

Police said altogether more than 100 people were hurt in a day of skirmishes around the country. Stone-throwing crowds fought in Beirut and Christian areas to the north, even though troops caught in the middle fired in the air to deter them.

Black smoke billowed over Beirut as demonstrators shut main roads, including those to the port and international airport, to enforce a general strike called by Hezbollah and its allies.

Several airlines cancelled flights. About 300 passengers were stranded at the airport because nearby roads were closed.

Airport sources said 146 Chinese UN peacekeepers were also trapped there after flying in on a normal troop rotation.

''This government only understands force and today is only a small lesson,'' protester Jamil Wahb told Reuters in the Shi'ite southern suburbs. ''We will stay here until they give in.'' The army, which has been guarding government offices in central Beirut since the opposition began protesting there on Dec. 1, has few extra troops to deploy. It is already stretched after moving thousands of men to south Lebanon and the Syrian border following Hezbollah's war with Israel last year.

One Christian leader said today's protests were tantamount to a coup attempt.

DEFIANT SINIORA Siniora has rejected opposition demands. Instead he has announced an economic reform plan to be presented on Thursday to an aid conference in Paris, where foreign donors are expected to pledge money to help Lebanon's debt-laden economy.

A senior US official said the Paris conference would offer economic and political support for the Lebanese government.

''We (the United States) will make a long-term financial contribution to help Lebanon rebuild itself,'' said US Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns at a seminar in Dubai.

Such support would help thwart those trying ''to overturn a democratically elected government through ... mobs''.

Hezbollah's deputy leader Naim Kassem told Al Jazeera television that the unrest would continue.

''We will do our utmost to maintain control of ourselves and our supporters but I share with you the concern about the other side, which has no such controls,'' he said.

Many shops, schools and businesses were closed in Beirut, in some areas because people supported the strike, in others because they could not get to work past fiery barricades.

Pro-government figures condemned the protests.

''What is happening is a revolution and a coup attempt,'' Christian leader Samir Geagea told al-Jazeera television. ''This is direct terrorism to paralyse the country.'' Opposition sources say protests will last for several days.

''Our campaign will escalate day by day,'' Suleiman Franjieh, an opposition Christian leader, told al-Manar television. ''As long as they won't listen to us, we will not let them rest.'' The opposition campaign has raised tension between Sunnis and Shi'ites in Lebanon, still recovering from a 1975-90 civil war.

The government is backed by anti-Syrian Sunni leader Saad al-Hariri. Its opponents include Shi'ite groups Hezbollah and Amal. Christians are split between the two camps.

REUTERS SY RK2145