BEIRUT: Thousands of people started gathering in central Beirut on Sunday for the funeral of slain intelligence officer Wissam al-Hassan, a ceremony likely to become a rally against Syrian authorities.
Hassan, who uncovered an alleged Syrian bomb plot inside Lebanon two months ago, died in a car bomb blast that killed seven other people and wounded 80 in Beirut’s Ashrafiyeh district on Friday.
Lebanese politicians have accused Syria’s leadership of having a role in the assassination, which deepened fears the civil war there is spreading beyond its borders.
Soldiers deployed in force across Beirut in preparation for the funeral, with squads standing guard at road junctions and stopping cars from entering the downtown area.
A mosque in central Martyrs’ Square, where Hassan is due to be buried, broadcast prayers for the dead early Sunday.
Protesters had blocked roads with burning tyres and gunmen took to the streets of Beirut and Tripoli yesterday.
In the evening small groups of protesters waving Lebanese flags marched to the government offices.
But the city was otherwise quiet overnight as residents stayed at home fearing more violence and jeeps loaded with soldiers cruised the streets.
Even the night-life areas of Hamra and Gemmayzeh were subdued, with many restaurants closed.
Former prime minister Saad al-Hariri accused Syrian President Bashar al-Assad of being behind the bombing and Lebanon’s political opposition demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Najib Mikati, whose government includes Syria’s Shi’ite Muslim ally Hezbollah.
The death of Hassan, a Sunni Muslim from the northern city of Tripoli who was close to the powerful Hariri political clan, has inflamed Sunni anger.
Deep-seated sectarian tensions in Lebanon, which fought a civil war from 1975 to 1990, have been exacerbated by the conflict in Syria.
Sunni-led rebels in Syria are fighting to overthrow Assad, who is from the Alawite minority which has its roots in Shi’ite Islam.
Sunday’s funeral march will set off from Hassan’s Internal Security Force headquarters in Ashrafiyeh, passing the site of Friday’s bombing before reaching Martyrs’ Square.
He will be buried alongside Hariri’s father Rafik, killed in a 2005 bombing on the Beirut seafront. (Reuters)