Lebanese Mourn Assassinated Minister

Lebanese independence day celebrations planned for today were cancelled as mourners flocked to pay their respects to the Lebanese industry minister, Pierre Gemayel, who was assassinated yesterday in Beirut.

With fears of sectarian violence running high, many shops and schools were closed.

Hundreds of villagers filed past Mr Gemayel's coffin in Bikfaya, east of Beirut, and paid condolences to his father, the former president Amin Gemayel, in the family home.

The gunning down of Mr Gemayel in his car - the fifth murder of an anti-Syrian figure in Lebanon in two years - drew condemnation from all quarters and also calls for restraint.

Pope Benedict XVI urged Lebanese people to turn away from the violence that has so often plagued the country.

"In the face of the dark forces that try to destroy the country, I call on all Lebanese not to be overwhelmed by hatred, but to strengthen national unity, justice and reconciliation," the Pope told pilgrims in St Peter's Square in Rome.

Lebanon's Maronite Catholic church, to which the Gemayel family belongs, said there should be no attempts at retaliation.

The former president added to the calls. "We don't want an outburst of emotions and revenge," he said last night outside the hospital where his son died.

Motorists waving the Phalange party flag - white with a green cedar tree in the centre - followed the hearse carrying Mr Gemayel's body as it was driven to the mountains for mourning ceremonies at the family home. The cortege stopped at the entrance of Bikfaya where, next to a statue of Pierre Gemayel's grandfather, pallbearers lifted the casket on to their shoulders and carried it to the house. As it passed through hundreds of mourners, the coffin was jolted in a traditional expression of extreme anguish.

Inside, nuns and priests said prayers around the closed coffin as relatives received condolences. Standing next to Amin Gemayel was Pierre's cousin, Nadim Gemayel, who lost his father, the president elect Bashir Gemayel, in a bomb explosion in 1982.

In a sign of the heightened tensions, some two dozen soldiers and an armoured personnel carrier guarded the Bikfaya offices of the Syrian Social Nationalist party; a pro-Syrian party whose premises were attacked by a mob last night.

Syria's opponents in Lebanon and allies of Mr Gemayel pointed the finger at Lebanon's neighbour despite denials from authorities in Damascus.

"It seems the Syrian regime is continuing the assassinations," Walid Jumblatt, the political leader of Lebanon's Druze community, told a news conference yesterday. "I expect more assassinations, but whatever they do, we are here and we will triumph."

The Lebanese president, Emile Lahoud, said Mr Gemayel's murder was part of a "conspiracy" that began with the assassination in February last year of the former prime minister Rafik Hariri.

"I tell the Lebanese that today is the time for them to unite or else all of Lebanon will lose," Mr Lahoud said in a television address late last night, when he announced the cancellation of independence day ceremonies.

"We will do the impossible to uncover the criminals because they are against all the Lebanese," Mr Lahoud said.

Anti-Syrian factions allied with the Phalange party have planned a huge turnout for tomorrow's funeral in central Beirut, intending to show their strength as they wage a power struggle against Hizbullah and other pro-Syrian parties.

The assassination came just after Mr Gemayel and other ministers had approved an international tribunal to judge those responsible for the assassination of Hariri - a killing in which Syrian officials have been implicated by a UN investigation.

In a television address, the prime minister, Fouad Saniora, linked Mr Gemayel's killing to the issue that sparked the crisis with Hizbullah: a plan for an international court to try suspects in the Hariri assassination. He said Lebanese people should rally behind the government's backing for such a court.

Mr Saniora's government is dominated by opponents of Syria. Hizbullah and its Shia Muslim allies have challenged the Sunni Muslim-backed prime minister, threatening to call mass demonstrations to bring down the government unless they receive effective veto powers in the cabinet.

Many see the demands as a bid by Damascus to restore its influence within its smaller neighbour - and by Hizbullah to boost its power, riding on increased popularity among the Shia population following this summer's war with Israel.

The tension has generated fears of a return to the sectarian strife that tore the nation apart in the 1975-90 civil war.