BEIRUT - Thousands of demonstrators continued a sit-in on Martyrs' Square in the heart of Beirut after 5:00 am (0300 GMT) Monday despite a ban on protests coming into effect.
The ban had been announced by Lebanese Interior Minister Suleiman Frangieh.
At 0300 GMT as the ban came into effect the opposition demonstrators sang the national anthem, waving Lebanese flags, as leading opposition figure Akram Shehayeb harangued the crowd and called on watching soldiers to join the protest.
Hundreds of heavily armed troops aided by police deployed jeeps and trucks to the main crossroads leading to the square, but they were good-natured with the demonstrators.
Two weeks after the assassination of ex-premier Rafiq Hariri, some 10,000 people had massed in the streets of Beirut late Sunday shouting "Syria out!" as the government faced a tough test in parliament where the opposition planned to present a censure motion to bring it down.
02/28/2005 03:24 GMT