Beirut

  Hezbollah's promised demonstrations in Beirut, designed to bring down a government that they consider Bush's puppet, has begun in Beirut.

So far I've seen one report saying that tens of thousands of protesters are already there.

Al-Jazzerah reported on the hopes that the demonstration will be peaceful, and quoted the President as saying that "The resistance (Hezbollah) is not going to shoot Lebanese people, and there will not be a civil war."

Der Spiegel's most recent reports indicates that the number of demonstrators is in the "hundreds of thousands." (It is their photo I reprinted above.

Credit for the  increased power of Hezbollah should probably be divided equally between Israel, Iran, America, and Syria - even though only two of the four hoped for the result achieved. Mazel Tov Mme Rice, Mr Bush, and Mr Olmert!

UPDATE:
Loyal commenter Rick admires how talented the Arab world is in orchestrating such huge demonstrations.  Perhaps he forgets the motivation that the people of Lebanon recently received. Since the ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel, 17 people have died, and 135 have been wounded by the explosion of cluster bombs left by Israel. Although Israel promised to provide maps to help the Lebanese find them, they have yet to do so. To add insult to injury, the vast majority of the approximately 60,000 cluster bombs were deployed as the cease fire began. ( NY Times )

Comments

[rick]

What do you believe to be the origination of the term "Arab street"? You have to give credit when credit is due. When it comes to putting together a mindless shrieking mob, those folks have no equal.

[bbbustard]

You might be right that it's an inherited skill, but as I noted in the update above, it sure helps to have a motivator.