I will be updating this post throughout the day as events unfold. Don’t forget to check out the photos and videos of world-wide protests for this cause. Here are more pictures.

BLOGS TO CHECK OUT: Caveman in Beirut, Across the Bay, and Syria Comment.

The colors are red and white, in accordance with the nation’s flag — minus the green — and I have seen in a few places the term Cedar Revolution.

According to Lebanonwire, 10,000 people have poured into Martyr’s Square between late Sunday night and 5:00 this morning, despite a ban on protests:

BEIRUT, Feb 28 (AFP) – Two weeks after the assassination of ex-premier Rafiq Hariri, some 10,000 people massed in the streets of Beirut early Monday in defiance of a ban as the government faced a tough test in parliament where the opposition planned to present a censure motion to bring it down.

The Lebanese opposition vowed to defy the pro-Syrian regime on the streets and in parliament on Monday, amid claims of ministerial resignations, after a top US envoy upheld demands for an immediate Syrian troop pullout from Lebanon.

Waving the Lebanese flag and shouting “Syria out!” the protesters ignored a ban on demonstrations and converged on the central Martyrs’ Square as hundreds of heavily armed but good-natured troops aided by police deployed jeeps and trucks to the main crossroads leading to the square.

They continued the sit-in on Martyrs’ Square after 5:00 am (0300 GMT) despite the ban on protests, announced by Lebanese Interior Minister Suleiman Frangieh, coming into effect.

At 0300 GMT the opposition demonstrators sang the national anthem, as leading opposition figure Akram Shehayeb harangued the crowd and called on the watching soldiers to join the protest.

The pro-Syrian counter-protestors have called off their protest ahead of the government ban:

Pro-Syrian loyalist groups, represented by the Follow-up Committee for the Organization of Civil Society (COCS), who only announced their intention to organize a counter-demonstration against the opposition on Friday, said they would call off their protest “in compliance” with the government ban.

Pro-Syrian Beirut MP Nasser Qandil said: “We listened to the voice of reason and decided to call off the demonstration. We received telephone calls from prominent figures and religious leaders including Grand Mufti Mohammed Qabbani and former Premier Salim Hoss, who suggested we end any further escalation.”

The opposition has accused the government of mobilizing what it called a “loyalist mob” to create a climate of tension aimed at intimidating people.

Abdel-Malak said: “The government is stirring up troubles to blackmail the people and frighten them that a return of civil unrest and violence is imminent.”

I am glad that the opposition is not complying with the government, however. And the U.S. has said that the Lebanese government is insulting its people by suggesting there will be another civil war.

BREAKING THE BARRIERS:

Wave after wave of opposition activists punched through army cordons to join the running vigil at Hariri????????s gravesite Monday, brandishing a forest of Lebanese flags. Army troops looked the other way.
Each of the opposition legislators made an appearance at the gravesite sit-in before going to the parliament session. Among them were Marwan Hamadeh, Ghazi Aridi, Butros Harb as well as all members of Hariri????????s block. They all addressed the swelling crowds, vowing to press foreword with the newly declared ???????Independence Uprising???????? at all costs.
A shoulder-to-shoulder army barricade was seen stopping the influx of protestors at the Saifi entrance to the Martyrs Square only to allow the crowds to pass through in small batches. But there was no attempt by the military to turn back any protestors
Dory Chamoun????????s National Liberal Party, Samir Geagea????????s Lebanese Forces, Gen. Michel Aoun????????s Free Patriotic Movement sent huge crowds to join the sit-in on Hariri????????s gravesite, drawing thunderous applause from opposition factions of Cornet Shahwan and Hariri????????s Tayyar Al Mustaqbal
Opposition spokesmen addressing the crowds called on Hizbullah to end hesitant stance and take a ???????historic move toward joining the Independence Uprising???????
Legislator Walid Ido, who now heads Hariri????????s bloc in parliament has said the government is ???????already a decomposing corpse??????? whether or not it wins a vote of confidence. Fares Boueiz said if parliament votes yes to the Karami government, it will spell out the collapse of the last viable institution within the state of Lebanon. The presidency is gone, the prime ministry is gone, we don????????t want parliament to go, too, he said.
A huge crowd burst into the Martyrs Square from the Gemmayze entrance, waving portraits of Hariri, Bashir Gemayel, Kamal Jumblat, Rene Mouawad and Samir Geagea. Among this crowd were Gemayel????????s widow Solange and her son Nadim and Dory Chamoun of the National Liberal Party.

This is incredible. Verified here.

For more information about the Lebanese Forces, they have a forum that I have been visiting often. This is where they are organizing themselves, and in English no less. From what I have gathered from my reading, they are not particularly fond of Hariri, but they are so opposed to the pro-Syrian government that they are trying as best as possible to focus on the big picture instead of creating rifts with other opposition forces. That’s encouraging to hear. Here is their about page.

Keep in mind as more information becomes available that not only are ordinary Lebanese coming out for the protests, but the Lebanese economy has basically been shut down on the wills of the banking, business, and industrial leaders. Schools and universities will also be closed.

HIZBULLAH’S ROLE: Zeina Abu Rizk believes that Hizbullah will vote in favor of the government, something it has never done as a supposedly Lebanese organization, thus reaffirming that it is master-minded by Damascus and Tehran:

As Parliament convenes Monday to discuss former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri’s assassination and most likely renews its confidence in the government, eyes are turned to Hizbullah, which has become the center of political polarization between the opposition and loyalists.

For the first time since its participation in Parliament in 1992, Hizbullah is expected to vote for the government, this time for purely “Syrian” reasons that have nothing to do with the Cabinet itself.

The party, which over a decade has either abstained or voted against the successive governments, will make a different choice Monday, amid a political battle whose real slogan is not the continuation of Prime Minister Omar Karami’s government, but the persistence of Syria’s hegemony over the country.

HARIRI: Interesting findings already being made in the case. In regards to this, Jumblatt is calling for a time table for withdrawal and insists that the protests will go on.

UPDATE: Stormy debate underway as parliament goes into session:

MPs observed a one-minute silence in memory of Hariri, who was killed in a bomb blast in Beirut on February 14 along with 17 other people in an attack widely blamed here on the government and its political masters in Syria.

But Prime Minister Omar Karameh, who took office after Hariri resigned in October, lashed out at those who charge is government played a part in the killing that set off the most serious political crisis since the civil war.

“To fire off political accusations pinning the responsibility of this criminal murder on the government without any proof is a grave injustice,” he told parliament.

Outside the building, at least 20,000 people were massed in Beirut for a demonstration calling for the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanese soil.

“The Lebanese parliament, and all the Lebanese people want to know who killed Rafiq Hariri,” said parliamentary speaker Nabih Berri. “But we call on all parties not to make unfounded accusations which risk dividing the Lebanese people and undermining Lebanon’s relations with its neighbours.”

Before the session started, opposition MP Walid Eido said: “he who votes today for the government will be viewed as an accomplice in the assassination of Rafiq Hariri.”

Another MP, Marwan Hamad, told the flag-waving demonstrators: “The government has fallen.”The counting of votes doesn’t matter much, the important thing is what we are going to say during the session in the chamber, and what is said and the people continue to say each day.”

In a brief speech to the crowds in Martyrs’ Square where Hariri is buried in the heart of Beirut, the main opposition leader, Druze MP Walid Jumblatt saluted the thousands who had come through military checkpoints to protest.

There air in Lebanon is tense. There are predictions of bloodshed. A member on the Labanese Forces forum named Yara had this to say:

I hope I an wrong, but my feeling is that the parliament is in syria’s haands. They learnt their lesson in Bachir’s days and they did their utmost to eliminate “loose cannons” over the years. I would be, pleasantly, surprised if enough votes are gathered for a no confidence declaration. the reason the army looks so unconfrontational is not likely due to patriotism. It is in fact very tightly controlled, syrian style. I fear the syrians are acting a bit too smartly and confidently. Nonetheless we should maintain the pressure. Certainly the eyes of the world are turned towards us and we should keep their attention. i hope that the sacrifices of all those who lost life or freedom will be soon rewarded.

This feeling is well-founded. Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin has learned that the Syrian government may be planning to protect its authority at all costs, and Thomas L. Friedman made the same prediction on February 19th.

Rich is reporting directly from Beirut:

Mainstream media sources have picked up and run with the story of the opposition protest in direct violation of Interior Minister Franjieh’s direct ban on all protests (I hope the link comes back – al-Nahar has been having some networking problems, probably due to everyone and their freaking relatives trying to access stories about Lebanon right now). Local crowd estimates (by no means exhaustive or accurate) stand at about 50,000 with their numbers increasing. The army has all but given up trying to keep away pedestrians trying to gain access to the protests, but the security presence is still massive. The good news is that the proceedings appear very organized and very peaceful, and there is still no sign of a loyalist presence or any noteworthy agitation among the crowd. I hope that my prior fears continue to remain unjustified.

Parliamentary deliberations have begun – there are the usual catcalling, accusations, and public denials about all the he-said-she-said spectacles that have been going on for weeks, but parliament speaker Nabih Berri seems to be keeping everything running smoothly. The confidence vote will be held after every parliament member has been given the opportunity to speak, with no time limit for each person. Hence, the vote could be days from now if everyone starts getting long-winded.

More from him on what happened earlier in the morning here.

IMPRESSIVE: I’m watching Fox News right now, and they are showing live camera feeds from the protests and talking about it. Considering the mild coverage of Ukraine, the mainstream media is really on top of this. Hat tip to them!

LEBANESE PRIME MINISTER DENIES accusations against his government that it was involved in the killing of Hariri and calls for unity. Heh. I believe there is plenty of unity going on right outside of the parliament.

THE PROTESTS GROW: Caveman in Beirut has updated, saying that the numbers haved swelled past a quarter of a million.

Update: As of 1:45 pm, LBC reports that the crowd has swelled past the 200,000 mark – for those readers interested in statistics. I add my usual caveat that this number is neither accurate nor exhaustive – the actual number could be far greater. The important thing to remember is that this is happening in spite of extensive measures to prohibit protesters from reaching the site.

I knew it. I’ve been up for 30 hours now, but I don’t feel a bit tired. What will happen an hour from now? Six hours from now?

PERSONAL OBSERVATION: At this point, there are 80 legislators demanding to speak at the parliament meeting. Some think that this could delay the no-confidence vote for days. If in fact this is the case, it would only serve to strengthen the opposition. It took a couple of days for the opposition in Ukraine to reach the numbers it did, an Beirut already has a tent city. Not to mention, roadblocks have been set up that block the Christians in the north from entering Beirut. If I recall correctly, Christians played a huge role in Ukraine and will play a huge role here. They will get past the blockades eventually, and that will add more and more to the number of protestors.

ARGH: Lebanonwire.com suddenly decided to go to subscription service online. If anyone wants to donate $12 so that I can get the wire from there, feel free. Likewise if you already have a subscription to email me the contents of the stories.

MORE BLOGGING: Tony from Across the Bay is up and blogging from Beirut. Check it out!

BACK LATER: I’ve been up all night covering this as much as possible, but now I have to go to the school. Feel free to liberally email me stories while I’m there, as I will try to get internet access as soon as possible and continue.

BACK: Check out the main page, the rest of the updates are going on there. My prediction came true, and I’ve been up for 30 hours now, but I’m so filled with energy right now that I won’t be sleeping any time soon!