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NAQOURA, Lebanon, May 7 (AFP)-Thousands of southern Lebanon residents, demonstrated on Sunday outside the headquarters of the U.N. Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL), asking for the international community's protection after Israel leaves the area. Waving Lebanese flags and blaring patriotic songs from car stereos and loudspeakers, the protesters poured in from dozens of villages to this coastal town, where 4,500 U.N. troops are based. Earlier in the day, the protestor's cars and vans caused a tailback of more than two kilometers (1.25 miles) on the twisty road leading to the village. "We've come here, Christians and Muslims from all villages in the border area, to hand in a letter addressed to the U.N. Secretary General asking for the international community to assure our safety and to concern itself with our fate," said a demonstrator from the border town of Rmeish, who came with his wife and four children. He said the demonstration, was organized by cultural clubs, and family groups concerned about the border area's security not by the South Lebanon Army (SLA), a Lebanese militia allied with Israel. Israel says it will leave southern Lebanon by July. U.N. troops have been stationed in the area since 1978, after U.N. resolutions called for Israel's immediate withdrawal from the area. |
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