NABATIYEH, Lebanon - More than 200,000 people rallied in this southern Lebanese city Sunday to denounce a UN resolution calling for a Syrian military pullout from Lebanon, photographers on the scene reported.
Nabatiyeh's central square was thick with demonstrators, who were pouring into the city on foot -- many waving Lebanese flags -- in response to a call from the pro-Syrian Shiite parties Amal and Hezbollah.
Organizers said 300,000 people were taking part in the rally, some of whom raised portraits of the presidents of Syria and Lebanon, Bashar al-Assad and Emile Lahoud, and Hezbollah secretary general Hassan Nasrallah.
The gathering went ahead despite a grim warning from President Emile Lahoud that continued protests in Lebanon could lead to catastrophe in a country once ravaged by factional fighting.
Anti-Syrian opposition parties and those more sympathetic to Damascus have taken to the streets on several occasions in the aftermath of the February 14 assassination of former prime minister Rafiq Hariri.
The killing -- blamed by many here on Syria -- has intensified pressure on the pro-Syrian Lebanese government to secure the withdrawal of Syrian military and intelligence units once and for all.
Syria has denied involvement in the assassination and has pledged to dismantle its military presence in Lebanon.
But tension has not eased and Lahoud warned on Saturday of a catastrophe if protests continued.
"If they want to continue demonstrating, a little firecracker will lead to catastrophe," he said as he received a union delegation.
"We are not in Georgia and nor are we in Ukraine. We have lived through 17 years of war and this could happen again ...," he said, in reference to Lebanon's devastating 1975-1990 civil war.
The crowd in Nabatiyeh, 70 kilometers (45 miles) south of Beirut, was warmed up by firey speakers who led chants of "No to foreign intervention, no to 1559, loyalty to Syria."
Pro-Syrian Lebanese parties see the US-backed UN Security Council Resolution 1559, calling for a Syrian miltary pullout, as an assault on Lebanese sovereignty.
Their banners proclaimed in English "Shut up Bush," "Bush, we don't need your democracy" and "Bush, we're in Lebanon, not Ukraine."
Other banners pledged loyalty to Syria and its president, Bashar al-Assad.
"Syria remains in our hearts and our spirits," one banner said.
Syrian forces entered Lebanon in 1976 to serve as a buffer between warring Lebanon factions. Their presence is seen in some quarters -- notably in the country's Shia Muslim community -- as a guarantor of social stability and political pluralism.
Earlier Sunday more than 3,000 partisans of the Lebanese Communist Party gathered in Beirut to support a Syrian military withdrawal while at the same time rejecting -- as foreign interference -- Resolution 1559.
"Yes to a Syrian withdrawal, no to 1559," militants shouted as they carried pictures of Che Guevara and the Lebanese flag bearing a hammer and sickle.
A huge demonstration by Lebanon's pro-Syrian opposition is scheduled to take place in Beirut on Monday.
03/13/2005 14:52 GMT