Freedom marches on in Lebanon

Is there anything more powerful than an ideal whose time has come? Sunday in Beirut thousands of people gathered to protest Syrian involvement in Lebanon reports the Jerusalem Post:

Several thousand anti-Syrian protesters took to Beirut's streets in defiance of a government ban, while a visiting US official kept up Washington's pressure on Syria by calling on it to withdraw its 15,000 troops from Lebanon following the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri earlier this month.

The protest Sunday came ahead of Monday's scheduled vote of confidence in the pro-Damascus government of Prime Minister Omar Karami, which is under intense pressure to find Hariri's killers. Many Lebanese say Karami's administration and its major powerbroker, neighboring Syria, were behind the attack, a charge both governments deny.

The Lebanese parliament meets today for a parliamentary session to deal with the Hariri assassination. Opposition leaders have called on the Lebanese people to take to the streets on Monday, despite the bann on mass gatherings or demostrations issued Sunday by the Karami government, to support the resignation of the current pro-Syrian government and the removal of all Syrian troops from Lebanon. When freedom is on the march can liberty be far behind?