BEIRUT, Oct 9 (AFP) - Opponents of Lebanon's President Emile Lahoud strongly criticised Saudi billionaire prince Walid bin Talal on Saturday for his calls to silence those opposed to an extended presidential term passed by parliament.
"Because he has been given Lebanese nationality, Walid bin Talal treats this country as if it is part of his financial holding," wrote Talal Salman, owner of the daily As-Safir.
"This brutal behaviour serves neither Saudi Arabia nor President Lahoud, because the Lebanese do not accept being humiliated by these people who believe that everything can be bought."
In a Syrian-inspired move last month, Lebanon's parliament amended the constitution to give Lahoud a further three-year term.
Opposition MP Fares Sweid said the Saudi prince "is not accustomed to democracy and wants to reduce the Lebanese patriots to silence. The fact that he is a successful businessman does not authorise him to give lessons, and to go against the policies of his grandfather."
The prince, whose fortune is estimated at 40 billion dollars -- the 10th biggest in the world according to the US magazine Forbes -- is the maternal grandson of Riad Solh, one of the fathers of Lebanese independence.
On Thursday, the billionaire told a group of businessmen, in the presence of President Lahoud, that the opposition "oversteps the limits" and should be "brought to heel".
He added that "certain media in which I have shares do not reflect reality and I pledge to take steps to change this state of affairs."
Sharif Fayad, secretary general of the Progressive Socialist Party of Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, said the prince "unfortunately has no notion of democracy, rotation of power (government) and freedom of the press."
Walid bin Talal, who has investments in hotels in Lebanon and Syria, has cordial relations with both Lahoud and Syria's President Bashar al-Assad.
The United Nations Security Council, at the behest of Washington and Paris, passed a resolution in September demanding an end to what it termed foreign interference in Lebanon, and demanding the withdrawal of foreign troops -- obviously targeting Syria.
On Saturday, Assad rejected charges that Damascus was seeking to dominate its smaller neighbour.
"Certain forces speak of Syrian domination of Lebanon. We have no interest in such domination," Assad said in a rare public speech in Damascus that was carried on state television.
"If we wanted to impose our hegemony, then why did we stage redeployments of our forces over the last five years," he said, referring to limited pullbacks that have halved the number of Syrian troops in Lebanon since the end of the civil war in 1990.
Last month, Syria withdrew 3,000 soldiers but calls have been mounting for the pullout of all the remaining forces that both Damascus and Beirut say are deployed for security reasons at Lebanon's request.