SHOTLIST

++NIGHT SHOTS++

1. Exterior shot of Prime Minister's office in Beirut

2. Mid shot of Lebanese soldiers and armoured vehicle in position around Prime Minister's office

3. Mid shot of Lebanese soldiers

4. Wide shot of Lebanese soldiers and armoured vehicle

5. Wide shot of Prime Minister's office

6. Wide shot of Lebanese cabinet meeting

7. Mid shot of Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora sitting at head of meeting

8. Mid shot of picture of murdered Lebanese Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel placed in his position around meeting table

9. Various of cabinet ministers around table

10. Mid shot of picture of murdered Lebanese Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel

11. Cameras

12. Mid shot of Lebanese Minister of Information, Ghazi Aridi, at press conference

13. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Ghazi Aridi, Lebanese Minister of Information:

"(The cabinet) approved the creation of an international tribunal between Lebanon and the United Nations and authorised the Justice Minister to sign this agreement with the United Nations and also to send this approval to the Lebanese Parliament for authorisation.''

14. Cameras

STORYLINE

The Lebanese government on Saturday approved an international tribunal for suspects in the 2005 assassination of former prime minister Rafik Hariri, despite warnings of mass protests by its opponent Hezbollah.

Last-ditch attempts to reach a compromise between the government and the pro-Syrian camp, led by Hezbollah, appeared to fail as the cabinet moved forward with its meeting for a UN created court.

The tribunal is a key bone of contention in the power struggle between allies and opponents of Syria in Lebanon.

Anti-Syrian forces - mainly Christian and Sunni Muslim - dominate the government, but are facing a campaign by the mainly Shiite pro-Syrian camp to bring the government down.

The political crisis became potentially explosive this week with the assassination of an anti-Syrian politician, raising worries of more violence that could tear apart the country's fragile sectarian seams.

The anti-Syrian bloc brought out some 800,000 people for a mass rally at the funeral of the politician, Pierre Gemayel, on Thursday.

Hezbollah has shown it can bring out similar numbers for its protests - and if it goes ahead with its threatened demonstrations, many fear it could start a spiral of street action.

Earlier on Saturday, two key anti-Syrian Lebanese politicians met with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, an ally of Hezbollah and a Syria supporter, in an apparent attempt to find a compromise.

Prime Minister Fuad Saniora offered to put off the contentious Cabinet vote for several days if six pro-Hezbollah ministers who quit the government earlier this month returned.

Hezbollah demands that the government be changed to give it and its allies more power, or else it says it will launch mass protests to topple Saniora.

But the reconciliation bid appeared to have failed, and the Cabinet meeting approved a UN draft for the tribunal.

In the eyes of Hezbollah, the approval of the tribunal amounts to a rejection of its demands for a greater representation in the Cabinet.

The Shiite militant group and Lebanon's pro-Syrian president, Emile Lahoud, have denounced the current government as unconstitutional, because the constitution underlines that the government must represent all of Lebanon's main communities.

"(The cabinet) approved the creation of an international tribunal between Lebanon and the United Nations and authorised the Justice Minister to sign this agreement with the United Nations and also to send this approval to the Lebanese Parliament for authorisation,'' Information Minister Ghazi Aridi said after the vote.

Aridi's statement went on to say that Prime Minister Saniora insisted the approval of the tribunal was not meant as a provocation against Hezbollah and its allies.

For opponents of Syria, the court is a major priority, and they hope it will uncover the truth behind the February 2005 assassination of Hariri in a massive bomb blast that killed 22 others, which they accuse Damascus of orchestrating. Syria has denied any role in the killing.

The court, which will sit outside Lebanon and have a majority of non-Lebanese judges, is to try four Lebanese generals - top pro-Syrian security chiefs under Lahoud including his Presidential Guard commander, who have been under arrest for 14 months, accused of involvement in

Hariri's murder.

The UN investigation into Hariri's death has also implicated Brigadier General Assaf Shawkat, Syria's military intelligence chief and the brother-in-law of Syrian President Bashar Assad. But Shawkat is not in custody.

Hariri's death was the first in a string of attacks that killed five other prominent anti-Syrian figures - with Gemayel the most recent, in a bold daytime shooting on Tuesday.

Many Lebanese blame Syria in all the killings, which Damascus denies.

Since Gemayel's assassination, some ministers in Saniora's Cabinet have moved into the heavily guarded prime minister's building in downtown Beirut, fearing more slayings.

SHOTLIST:

1. Pan on downtown Beirut with Al Amine mosque in the background

2. Crowd gathering at the Martyrs' square

3. Former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri poster with electronic sign reading "365"

4. Arrival of MP Bahia Hariri, sister of Rafik Hariri, at his grave

5. Bahia Hariri praying

6. Close-up of big poster for Rafik Hariri

7. Bahia Hariri leaving the anniversary ceremony marking Hariri's assassination

8. Thousands gathered in crowded square

9. Various of crowd waving Lebanese flags and anti-Syrian banners

10. Mid shot of banner: "Kick out Bashar's agent from Baabda" (referring Syrian President Bashar Assad and to Lebanese president Emile Lahoud)

11. Wide shot of Al Amine mosque

12. Mid shot of crowd

13. SOUNDBITE: (English) Ghazi Aridi, Information minister:

"It will be the international tribunal and the truth will be very clear for all the Lebanese people and the international community."

14. Mid shot of soldiers

15. Various of crowd

STORYLINE:

Hundreds of thousands of Lebanese waving flags, some carrying anti-Syrian banners, massed in Martyr's square in Beirut on Tuesday to commemorate the first anniversary of the assassination of former Premier Rafik Hariri.

The gathering answered a call by groups opposed to Syrian involvement in lebanon aiming to show their popular strength amid deep political divisions.

Syria's troops left Lebanon in April under international pressure after nearly 30 years, and a UN probe into Hariri's murder has already implicated top Syrian and allied Lebanese security officials. Damasmcus refutes any involvement.

Rafik Hariri's sister Bahia Hariri prayed at his graveside next to the square.

Outside some demonstrators carried signs calling for "The Truth" and shouted the name of Hariri's son and political heir, Saad Hariri, whilst others carried placards critical of Syria and its president, Bashar Assad.

Thousands of troops and policemen, backed by armoured vehicles, sealed off Beirut's downtown area to provide security and guarded approaches to the city.

The government gave schools the day off and businesses closed.

The demonstration was expected to climax shortly after midday - the time when a huge truck bomb exploded on a downtown seaside street as his motorcade drove by a year ago, killing him and 20 others.

The main pro-Syrian Shiite Muslim groups, Hezbollah and Amal, were not taking part in the demonstration, which was expected to be largely dominated by Sunni Muslims from Hariri's sect and by Christian and Druse allies.

Amal is holding its own commemoration later Tuesday in southern Lebanon. Amal and Hezbollah, who are represented in the Cabinet, have been locked in a power struggle with the government's majority led by the Saad Hariri bloc.

The groups leading Tuesday's rallies in Beirut are looking for a repetition of a March 14 protest in which about one (m) million flag-waving Lebanese converged on Martyrs' Square to demand the Syrian army leave Lebanon.

The groups have continued to accuse Syria of interfering in Lebanese affairs and carrying out a campaign of bombings and assassinations in the last year that has killed other 11 people, including three prominent anti-Syrians.

Damascus has also denied involvement in these attacks.

Before the troop pullout, Syria had dominated Lebanon with its army and security services for nearly three decades, first entering in 1976 to quell a fratricidal civil war that did not end until 1990.

SHOTLIST:

1. Mid of Beirut's main airport road with hundreds of protesters chanting pro-Nasrallah (Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah) slogans

2. Wide of protesters trying to block the road

3. Mid of cars trying to pass through road

4. Various of protesters in street

5. Lebanese army in street next to protesters

6. Various, armoured personnel carriers move up street

7. Various, massed troops, walking, running up street

8. Troops with protesters

9. Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora and cabinet ministers during meeting

10. Various of meeting

11. Wide of Saniora walking into news conference and sitting down

12. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Fuad Saniora, Lebanon Prime Minister:

"The opportunity is here today to be united with the international tribunal, because this tribunal is our only way to find the truth about the crimes which target the Lebanese people.''

13. Close up, photographer

STORYLINE:

Hundreds of Shiite supporters of Hezbollah blocked a road leading to Beirut airport on Thursday, protesting at what they said were insults against their leader during the massive rallies accompanying the funeral of slain Christian politician, Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel.

The protest came after hundreds of thousands of Lebanese flooded downtown Beirut to mourn the slain Christian politician and vent anger at Syria.

Troops were called in control the crowds, with columns of armoured personnel carriers on streets near the protest.

Prime Minister Fuad Saniora went on national television appealing to Hezbollah and its allies to resume a national dialogue broken off earlier in the month.

He renewed an appeal to the six ministers who quit their posts to return to the Cabinet and for rival political factions to resume a national dialogue that broke off earlier in the month precipitating the current deadlock.

The six ministers resigned just before the assassination of Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel who was murdered on Tuesday and whose funeral took place on Thursday.

But the divisive issue of approving a UN-created international tribunal to investigate the assassinations of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and Gemayel could again undermine any reconciliation. But the government is pressing ahead with the court proposals, despite opposition from Hezbollah.

"The opportunity is here today to be united with the international tribunal, because this tribunal is our only way to find the truth about the crimes which target the Lebanese people.'' said Saniora in support of a tribunal investigation.

Pierre Gemayel, the scion of his powerful Maronite Christian family, was killed on Tuesday when two cars blocked his vehicle at an intersection as he left a church in a Beirut suburb and assassins shot him numerous times through a side window.

He was the sixth anti-Syrian figure killed in Lebanon in two years, including Rafik Hariri.

Syria has denied any role in the slaying of Gemayel and the other figures.

A government official said Saniora has called a Cabinet meeting for Saturday to approve the draft.

There was no immediate reaction from the opposition.

SHOTLIST

1. Wide top shot of thousands of protesters at the site where Pierre Gemayel was assassinated

2. Mid of protestors carrying flags

3. Mid of poster showing photo of Pierre Gemayel

4. Pan from right to left down street showing thousands of protestors

5. Various of wife and mother of Pierre Gemayel

6. Various of protestors

7. Mid of armed solider standing near site of protest

8. Various of Lebanese army on foot and in armoured vehicles taking up positions around the Prime ministers office in Beirut

9. Wide exterior of the office of Fuad Saniora, Lebanese Prime Minister, in Beirut

10. Wide interior pan of Saniora, Henrietta Fore, US Department of State Under Secretary, and delegation sitting for photo op

11. Mid of Henrietta Fore seated on couch

12. Mid of Saniora sitting for photo op

13. Wide of delegates

14. Mid of Saniora and Fore

15. Mid of Fore approaching microphone to speak

16. SOUNDBITE: (English) Henrietta Fore, US Department of State Undersecretary for Management:

"(we) affirmed our long and sustained commitment to Lebanon."

17. Various of newspaper stand in Beirut showing pictures of Pierre Gemayel, and tanks in streets

18. Various of newspaper headline reads: (Arabic) "No new initiative or meeting and all factions in confrontation.''

19. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Vox Pop:

"We hope for Arab countries and the Arab League to intervene try to get people together in order to avoid civil war like the one we had.''

20. Wide of protestors

21. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Vox Pop:

"We are here to show support and loyalty and to tell the world that we Lebanese Christians will stay and not leave Lebanon no matter what happen."

22. Wide of Beirut city

STORYLINE

Thousands of protestors took to the streets of Beirut on Tuesday, demanding the truth over the assassination of the Maronite Christian Industry minister, Pierre Gemayel.

The gathering, held at the site where Gemayel was killed, marked a week long period since the minister's death.

Gemayel's wife and mother joined the protestors.

Gemayel's assassination has inflamed an already volatile situation in Lebanon- one clearly visible in Beirut on Tuesday as troops moved to secure posts around Prime Minister Fuad Saniora's office as he met with a senior US official from Washington.

Henrietta Fore, US Department of State Undersecretary for Management, told news reporters after the meeting, that Washington had "affirmed" its "long and sustained commitment to Lebanon," in the face of Hezbollah-led opposition moves to topple it.

The meeting between US and Lebanon comes a day after Saniora's cabinet sent a draft accord to Lebanon's President, Emile Lahoud, seeking to create a tribunal to try suspects in the killing of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri - a move seen to further enhance the power struggle between the pro- and anti-Syrian forces.

The pro-Syrian Lahoud, who considers the Cabinet "unconstitutional" after the resignation of six ministers, is expected to decline to endorse the agreement.

The accord would set up the UN backed court in a location outside Lebanon.

For opponents of Syria, the court is a major priority, one they hope will uncover the truth behind the February 2005 assassination of Hariri which they accuse Damascus of orchestrating.

Syria denies the claim.

The tribunal has also become the latest weapon in the battle between the Hezbollah-aligned factions and the anti-Syrian parties over the demand by Hezbollah for a third of the Cabinet's seats, which would give Hezbollah and its supporters veto power over key decisions, including the UN document setting up the tribunal.

Hezbollah is threatening to call mass demonstrations unless it and its allies obtain a veto-wielding share of the Cabinet -a demand that Saniora and the anti-Syrian parties have rejected.

Gemayel's death heightened fears the country may return to the sectarian violence of the 1975-90 civil war.

SHOTLIST

1. 'An-Nahar' newspaper building with big poster of Gibran Tueni on side

2. Close up on poster

3. People marching

4. Protesters shouting slogans

5. Various of demonstration, flag waving people

6. Various of closed shops, banks and schools

7. Various of security forces on the streets

8. Newspapers on sale

9. Various of newspapers

10. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Vox pop:

"We ask for a firm decision about the Syrians and we call to impose sanctions on them and even change the regime. This regime looks very criminal, we cannot reach an understanding with them."

11. Various of mourning signs in Sassine Place in Ashrafieh (area of Beirut which Tueni represented in parliament), pictures of Tueni and Lebanese flags

12. Cars driving through the street with Tueni posters, part of funeral procession

13. Various of funeral procession, coffins (of Tueni and his two bodyguards) draped in Lebanese flags being taken through Sassine

14. Atef Majdalani, MP from Hariri bloc in parliament, reading newspaper

15. Cutaway photo of Atef Majdalani and former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri

16. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Atef Majdalani, MP from Hariri bloc in Lebanese parliament:

"We call on the international community to stop these terrorist operations, these crimes and these assassinations that are being carried out by totalitarian regimes, by dictatorial and oppressive regimes."

17. Various of funeral, crowd holding signs and waving Lebanese flags

STORYLINE:

Thousands of flag-waving Lebanese - both Christian and Muslim - bid farewell on Wednesday to murdered newspaper editor Gibran Tueni.

The mass turn-out demonstrated the level of anger felt towards Syria, which has been blamed for the Monday car bombing which killed Tueni.

A general strike called in mourning for Tueni was widely respected with banks, businesses and schools closing their doors for the day.

Hundreds of Lebanese troops and police took up position in a central square where, on March 14, about a million people heard Tueni call for the withdrawal of Syrian forces from Lebanon.

An outspoken critic of Syria, Tueni was killed by a car bomb on Monday as he was being driven to work through an industrial suburb of Beirut.

The 48-year old was the fourth anti-Syrian figure to be killed since February.

The series of bombings began with the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, who was killed in a truck bombing.

A previously unknown group has claimed responsibility for the blast that killed Tueni and two bodyguards, and wounded 30 other people.

But Tueni's colleagues and political allies have blamed Syria, which has denied involvement.

In the Beirut district of Ashrafieh, which Tueni represented in parliament, several thousand people marched behind his coffin and those of his bodyguards.

Others waited outside An-Nahar's offices in the city centre, where a giant portrait of Tueni hung down the side of the building.

Men, women and children - including families and political activists - waved Lebanese flags and held pictures of Tueni.

Many shouted slogans against Syria and its President Bashar Assad.

The strike that anti-Syrian groups had called in mourning for Tueni was observed not only in Beirut, but also in the southern provincial capital of Sidon and in the mountains of central Lebanon.

But in eastern Lebanon, where pro-Syrian groups are dominant, the strike call was ignored.

Opponents of Syrian influence in Lebanon are counting on the public anger over Tueni's killing to bolster their cause and close ranks in the face of what they see as a Syrian threat to pick off their leaders one by one.

Meantime, on Tuesday the chief U.N. investigator into the Hariri assassination, German magistrate Detlev Mehlis, told the U.N. Security Council that the latest evidence strengthened his belief that Syrian and Lebanese intelligence officials were involved in the murder.

Mehlis had interviewed Tueni as a witness.

Hariri's death in February sparked mass protests and intensified international pressure which forced Syria to withdraw its army from Lebanon after nearly three decades of political and military control.

Syria has denied involvement in Hariri's killing.

France circulated a resolution in the Security Council co-sponsored by Britain and the United States, which would broaden the scope of the U.N. investigation to include all the attacks in Lebanon since October 1, 2004.

The draft resolution seemed to deflect the Lebanese government's request for an inquiry into Tueni's killing and an international tribunal for the suspected killers of Hariri.

SHOTLIST

Beirut

1. Various of car wreckage of Tueini

2. Various of aftermath of explosion

3. Wide exterior of the Grand Serail

4. Close-up of Lebanese flag

5. Wide interior of the High Security council meeting

4. Mid shot of Lebanese Prime-Minister Fuad Saniora

5. Various of council's meeting

Beirut

6. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Fuad Saniora, Lebanese Prime-Minister:

"We will not surrender, we will not surrender. The criminals continue to kill us one after the other. We will not surrender whatever is the price."

7. Cutaway cameramen

8. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Fuad Saniora, Lebanese Prime-Minister:

"This hideous crime occurs while Judge Detlev Mehlis presents his report, with whatever indications and significance it has especially after what has been recently said as declarations and threats that are very clear."

9. Wide of news conference

10. Various of Saniora meeting ambassadors

Beirut

10. Sit-in in Christian Ashrafieh neighbourhood (central Beirut)

11. Various of sit-in

12. Man holding poster of journalist and lawmaker Gibran Tueini

13. More of sit-in

14. Security forces

Damascus

15. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Mehdi Dakhlallah, Syrian Information Minister:

"Actually I think Lebanon's enemies are responsible for all these explosions that are happening nowadays. No matter how the relationship between Syria and Lebanon is, or what in JebranTueni's attitude towards Syria was and what he announced. Syria condemns the killing of Gobrin Tueni, Syria totally refuses these charges because it is against Syrian policy and manners."

16. Street scene

STORYLINE:

Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora said Monday he will ask the United Nations to set up a new inquiry into anti-Syrian journalist and MP Gibran Tueni's slaying and previous bombings and to create an international tribunal to try suspects in the Hariri assassination.

"The criminals continue to kill us one after the other. We will not surrender whatever is the price," Saniora said.

A previously unknown group, "Strugglers for the unity and freedom in the Levant," claimed responsibility for the blast, but many quickly implicated Damascus in the slaying.

The statement's authenticity could not be independently confirmed.

The bombing came the day that the U.N. Security Council received a U.N. inquiry's report into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

New evidence has only reinforced investigators' belief that the Syrian and Lebanese intelligence services were likely involved in the assassination of Lebanon's former prime minister, a U.N. probe said in the new report Monday.

The 25-page report from German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis' team again accused Syria of trying to obstruct his probe when it demanded that he revise his findings after a crucial witness recanted his testimony.

Mehlis will brief the council on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, in the Christian quarter of Ashrafieh, Tueni's constituency, orthodox churches tolled their bells. Dozens of Tueni supporters held a sit-in to mark the death of the lawmaker.

Police said Tueni was one of three people killed when a car bomb exploded as his motorcade drove through the hilly industrial suburb of Mkalles.

The others were his driver and an unidentified passerby. Another 30 people were wounded in the bombing, which started a fire that destroyed at least 10 vehicles.

Tueni, 48, who had championed the U.N. investigation into Hariri's killing, had returned only Sunday from France, where he had been staying periodically for fear of assassination.

The U.N. inquiry reported in October that Syrian and Lebanese intelligence officials were implicated in Hariri's death.

Syrian Information Minister Mehdi Dakhlallah denied his government was involved in the killing.

After Hariri's death, Tueni played a prominent role in the leadership of the mass demonstrations that, combined with international pressure, succeeded in forcing Syria to withdraw its troops from Lebanon in April, ending a 29-year presence in the country.

SHOTLIST

1. Mid of Beirut's main airport road with hundreds of protesters chanting pro-Nasrallah (Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah) slogans

2. Wide of protesters trying to block the road

3. Mid of cars trying to pass through road

4. Various of protesters in street

5. Lebanese army in street next to protesters

6. Various, armoured personnel carriers move up street

7. Various, massed troops, walking, running up street

8. Troops with protesters

9. Various of poster of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah

10. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Hassan Ezz Eddin, Hezbollah Spokesman:

"While we are calling for dialogue and reconciliation, we did not give up our planned agenda that was halted due to the assassination of Pierre Gemayel. Our agenda is still on and our principles haven't changed and will achieve it either by the street pressure or any other democratic and peaceful means to achieve our goal which will rescue Lebanon from all this tension.''

11. Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora and cabinet ministers during meeting

12. Various of meeting

13. Wide of Saniora walking into news conference and sitting down

14. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Fuad Saniora, Lebanon Prime Minister:

"The opportunity is here today to be united with the international tribunal, because this tribunal is our only way to find the truth about the crimes which target the Lebanese people.''

15. Close up, photographer

STORYLINE

Hundreds of Shiite supporters of Hezbollah blocked a road leading to Beirut airport on Thursday, protesting at what they said were insults against their leader during the massive rallies accompanying the funeral of slain Christian politician, Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel.

The protest came after hundreds of thousands of Lebanese flooded downtown Beirut to mourn the murdered politician and vent anger at Syria.

Troops were called in control the crowds, with columns of armoured personnel carriers on streets near the protest.

Prime Minister Fuad Saniora went on national television appealing to Hezbollah and its allies to resume a national dialogue broken off earlier in the month.

He renewed an appeal to the six ministers who quit their posts to return to the Cabinet and for rival political factions to resume a national dialogue that broke off earlier in the month precipitating the current deadlock.

The six ministers resigned just before the assassination of Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel who was murdered on Tuesday and whose funeral took place on Thursday.

But the divisive issue of approving a UN-created international tribunal to investigate the assassinations of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and Gemayel could again undermine any reconciliation. But the government is pressing ahead with the court proposals, despite opposition from Hezbollah.

"The opportunity is here today to be united with the international tribunal, because this tribunal is our only way to find the truth about the crimes which target the Lebanese people.'' said Saniora in support of a tribunal investigation.

Pierre Gemayel, the scion of his powerful Maronite Christian family, was killed on Tuesday when two cars blocked his vehicle at an intersection as he left a church in a Beirut suburb and assassins shot him numerous times through a side window.

He was the sixth anti-Syrian figure killed in Lebanon in two years.

Syria has denied any role in the slaying of Gemayel and the other figures.

A government official said Saniora has called a Cabinet meeting for Saturday to approve the draft.

There was no immediate reaction from the opposition.

SHOTLIST

1. Wide pan of closed shops

2. Close-up of padlock

3. Wide of bank sign

4. Wide of closed bank and cash machine

5. Close-up of cash machine

6. Wide of empty street

7. Sign for Lebanese Stock Exchange, which was closed

8. Wide of closed airline offices

9. Wide of quiet street

10. SOUNDBITE (English) Kamel Wazny, Economist:

"The assassination obviously left a negative impact on Lebanese politics and in return will have definitely an impact on the economic condition of Lebanon. Of course Lebanon coming out of a difficult war and we have a lot of heavy burden of debts when we are going towards Paris 3 to get funding and I think this will have an impact on the funding of the Lebanese government."

11. Various of a demonstration in Martyrs' square

12. Demonstrator holding a Phalange Party flag

13. Various of a demonstrators lighting a candles

14. Poster of the late Pierre Gemayel

15. Banner reading (English) "We are hostages of Iran, Syria and Israel"

16. SOUNDBITE (English) Nader El Naqib, demonstrator:

"We are here today to assert that we are going to continue till the end by having an international court."

17. Soldier standing with gun

18. Wide of Martyrs' square

STORYLINE

Business leaders hit Lebanon with a strike on Friday to demand that leaders find a resolution to the country's political crisis, fearing that it could spiral into violence after the slaying of a Christian leader.

With tension running high a day after a massive demonstration outside the funeral of Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel, factories, banks and financial

institutions closed on orders from business community leaders.

Though many small shops remained open Friday, many schools kept their doors closed and traffic was thinner than normal on Beirut's usually bustling streets.

The two-day strike "was to raise the voice against this crime," a statement from the business leaders said.

It called on government and its opponents to break the political deadlock and urged the Cabinet and Parliament to "take national decisions ... engage in dialogue and stop making threats of street protests."

The strike reflected fears that Lebanon's political crisis could throw the country into turmoil.

"The assassination obviously left negative impact on Lebanese politics and in return will have definitely on the economic condition of Lebanon," said one economist AP Television spoke to.

Lebanon is sharply divided between anti-Syrian Christians and Sunni Muslims, who dominate the parliament and government, and pro-Syrian Shiite Muslims, who are led by the powerful Hezbollah guerrilla group and are demanding more power.

On Thursday, an estimated 800-thousand people, flooded into downtown Beirut for Gemayel's funeral and vented their anger against Syria, which many blame in the assassination.

They vowed their support for the US-backed government and vowed to oust Lebanon's pro-Syrian president, Emile Lahoud.

But Hezbollah and its allies have threatened their own campaign of street protests to bring down the government of Prime Minister Fuad Saniora unless it is changed to give them more power.

Further stoking the tension was Saniora's call for a Cabinet session on Saturday to approve a protocol sent by the United Nations to set up an

international tribunal to try suspects in the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri; a highly divisive issue because Syrian officials have been implicated in the murder.

"We are here today to assert that we are going to continue till the end by having an international court," said one demonstrator AP Television spoke to at a demonstration in martyr square on Friday.

Damascus has denied it had anything to do with the murder.

SHOTLIST:

Beirut

1. Pan of Beirut

2. Various of Lebanese army on streets

3. Tilt-down of rack of newspapers

4. Lebanese newspaper headline reading: (Arabic) "Government to approve International tribunal today (Saturday) Sheik Nasrallah and Berri (Nabih Berri, parliament speaker and head of Amal movement) object."

5. Man reading newspaper

6. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Voxpop, name unknown

"He (Fuad Saniora, Lebanese prime minister) should approve the international tribunal today (Saturday) without waiting and whatever is meant to happen will happen. We Lebanese need to know what will happen with us."

7. Traffic in southern Beirut suburb - considered a stronghold of Hezbollah

8. Posters of Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah leader

9. Khodor El Din, member of Hezbollah political bureau entering room

10. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Khodor El Din, Hezbollah political bureau

"We consider this government illegitimate and unconstitutional and it has no rights to take any design, especially in important topics."

Bikfaya, northeast of Beirut

11. Various of mourners arriving to assassinated industry minister Pierre Gemayel's family home to offer condolences

STORYLINE:

The leaders of Lebanon's two main Shiite Muslim parties kept up their threat of mass protests against the government on Saturday, deepening the crisis in a country where businesses are on strike and ministers fear for their lives after this week's assassination of a colleague.

"We insist on our legitimate right to demand a real participation in the political decision-making," Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah and Amal leader Nabih Berri said in a statement, referring to their claim of a veto-wielding share of the Cabinet.

In Beirut on Saturday, Khodor El Din, a member of Hezbollah's political bureau, said: "we consider this government illegitimate and unconstitutional and it has no rights to take any design, especially in important topics."

Beirut was tense after several hundred supporters of the pro-Syrian Hezbollah briefly took to the streets on Thursday night, burning tires and blocking the road to the airport until Nasrallah ordered them home.

But the US-backed government of Fuad Saniora, Lebanon's prime minister, moved ahead with an issue that was likely to further anger Hezbollah.

The Cabinet was due to meet later on Saturday to give its final approval to a UN-created international court that will try suspects in the February 2005 killing of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri, who was slain in a massive bomb blast in Beirut in February 2005.

In a gesture toward the government and the anti-Syrian majority in parliament, which regard the UN court as a priority, Nasrallah and Berri said they supported the creation of the tribunal.

Meanwhile northeast of Beirut in Bikfaya, mourners arrived at the family home of assassinated Lebanese industry minister Pierre Gemayel to pay their condolences.

The 34-year-old, scion of one of the nation's most prominent political dynasties, was killed on Tuesday when two cars blocked his vehicle at an intersection as he left a church and assassins shot him numerous times through a side window.

He was the sixth anti-Syrian figure killed in Lebanon in two years, including former prime minister Rafik Hariri.