Protests paralyse Lebanon to topple cabinet
'Pakistan Times' Wire Service

BEIRUT: Protesters bent on toppling Lebanon's cabinet blocked highways and roads with blazing tyres on Tuesday, sparking clashes with government loyalists in which three people were killed and 133 people hurt, police said.

The violence raised the stakes in a campaign by Iranian- and Syrian-backed Hezbollah and its Shi'ite and Christian allies to oust Prime Minister Fouad Siniora's Western-supported government.

Siniora, vowed to stand firm. "We will stay together against intimidation. We will stand together against strife," he said in a televised speech.

"Today's general strike turned into actions and harassment that overstepped all limits and rekindled memories of times ofstrife, war and hegemony," Siniora said.

He hinted that the government might take stronger measures.

"The duty of the army and security forces does not allow any flexibility or compromise regarding the public interest, orderand civic peace," Siniora declared.

The street trouble prompted him to delay his departure for an international conference on aid for Lebanon to be held in Paris on Thursday. He did not say if he still planned to go.

Lebanese troops tried to keep rival groups apart, but police said a member of the Christian, pro-government Lebanese Forces party was shot dead in the town of Batroun, north of Beirut.

Two people were shot and killed in northern port of Tripoli. Police said gunfire wounded around 50 people, many of them in the Christian towns.

Police said 133 people were hurt in a day of skirmishes around the country. Stone-throwing crowds fought in Beirut and Christian areas to the north, even though troops caught in the middle fired in the air to deter them.●