Free Patriotic Movement Amine Gemayel Samy Gemayel Pierre Gemayel Nadim Gemayel Samir Geagea Sethrida Geagea Saad Hariri Fouad Siniora Walid Jumblatt Camille D. Chamoun Ziad Majed Gebran Tueini Michel Aoun Bashar al-Assad Muhammad Naji al-Otari Hasan Turkmani Ali Habib Mahmud Omar Karami Hassan Nasrallah Mohammad Raad Gebran Araiji Assaad Hardan Nabih Berri Suleiman Frangieh Jr. Assem Qanso The Cedar Revolution (Arabic: ثورة الأرز, romanized: thawrat al-arz), also known as the Independence uprising (Arabic: انتفاضة الاستقلال, romanized: intifadat al-istiqlal), was a chain of demonstrations in Lebanon (especially in the capital Beirut) triggered by the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri.

With the resignation of the pro-Syrian Karami government on 19 April, the 2005 general election, and the establishment of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, the main goals of the revolution were achieved.

In Alphabetical Order: An Anti-Syrian occupation demonstration[9] took place in Lebanon on 7 August 2001, which turned violent when the joint Lebanese-Syrian security System tried to repress the revolt, and resulted in the arrest of hundreds without legal justification,[10] during the tenure of the pro-Syrian president Emile Lahoud.

Despite the lack, to date, of any actual substantial evidence implicating any party or individual, the Syrian government has borne the brunt of Lebanese and international outrage at the murder, because of its extensive military and intelligence influence in Lebanon, as well as the public rift between Hariri and Damascus just before his last resignation on 20 October 2004.

The United States, the EU and the UN have stopped short of any accusations, choosing instead to demand a Syrian pullout from Lebanon and an open and international investigation of the Assassination.

Jumblatt's comments are not without controversy; the BBC describes him as "being seen by many as the country's political weathervane" – consistently changing allegiances to emerge on the winning side of the issues de jour through the turmoil of the 1975–90 civil war and its troubled aftermath.

On 21 February 2005, tens of thousands of Lebanese protesters held a rally at the site of the assassination calling for an end of Syrian occupation and blaming Syria and the pro-Syrian president Émile Lahoud for the murder.

The tens of thousands gathered at Beirut's Martyrs' Square cheered the announcement, then chanted "Karami has fallen, your turn will come, Lahoud, and yours, Bashar".

Former minister and MP Marwan Hamadeh, who survived a similar car bomb attack on 1 October 2004, said "I accuse this government of incitement, negligence and shortcomings at the least, and of covering up its planning at the most... if not executing".

On 15 March, upon hearing purportedly leaked information that the United Nations' special investigation may have found that the Lebanese authorities covered up evidence of the murder, columnist Robert Fisk alleges that Hariri's two sons fled Lebanon, reportedly after being warned that they too were in danger of assassination.

[25] UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, in response to a request by the Security Council, sent a team of Irish, Egyptian and Moroccan specialists, led by Ireland's deputy police commissioner, Peter FitzGerald, to investigate the assassination.

At a press conference on 25 March, then Lebanese Foreign Minister Mahmoud Hammoud said the inquiry would be expected to work within an established framework "in co-operation with the state".

Responding to the announcement, opposition leader Walid Jumblatt said that he wanted to hear more specifics from Damascus about any withdrawal: "It's a nice gesture but 'next few months' is quite vague – we need a clear-cut timetable".

On the weekend of 9 and 10 April, on the anniversary of the ignition of the Lebanese Civil war, the last remaining Syrian troops left Lebanon, ending their 30-year presence.

It was reported by the opposition Lebanese newspaper The Daily Star that Assad offered to remove most of the 15,000 troops Syria has stationed in Lebanon during the talks, but insisted on leaving a force of 3,000 in the country.

Algerian foreign minister Abdel-Aziz Belkhadem discussed the consensus ahead of the summit, stating that "we all agreed to demand the implementation of the Taif Accord with respect to international legitimacy".

[34] The predominantly Shi'ite protesters held pictures of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and placards reading, in English, "No for the American Intervention".

[35][36] Ten days after his resignation, Omar Karami was reappointed prime minister and called on the opposition to participate in government until the elections slated for April 2005.

The demonstration was called by the different factions of the anti-Syrian opposition (including the Hariri family and other groupings) and was trumpeted by the different private media, namely Future TV, a private enterprise part of the media empire controlled by Hariri's family and the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation LBCI, generally aligned with the Lebanese Forces, the right-wing Christian party.

[41][42][43][44] On 26 April 2005, international news agencies and the UN reported the last Syrian troops and intelligence agents had crossed the border in withdrawal from Lebanon.

The Syrian government officially notified the United Nations that it had withdrawn its troops in line with UN Security Council Resolution 1559, adopted in September 2004.

[46] Also on 27 April 2005, The Washington Post reported that "Syria has not withdrawn a significant part of its intelligence presence in Lebanon, undermining its claim yesterday to have ended its 29-year intervention in its western neighbor, U.S., European and U.N. officials said.

[48] Both participants and observers of the Cedar Revolution demonstrations have asked if the movement was influenced by recent local and regional events supporting democracy.

Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt remarked to a reporter of The Washington Post, "It's strange for me to say it, but this process of change has started because of the American invasion of Iraq.

[citation needed] Other views maintain that Lebanese anger against perceived Syrian hegemony had been simmering for decades, and the assassination of a popular leader was the spark that gave birth to the movement, independently of foreign and regional developments.

On 14 February 2007, tens of thousands of Lebanese gathered peacefully in Martyr's Square to commemorate the second anniversary of former prime minister Rafic Hariri's assassination.

[51][52] The large number proved that the Cedar Revolution was still going on, especially when the crowds turned the commemoration into a defiant opportunity to blame Syria and Hezbollah for Lebanon's political woes.

On 14 February, exactly three years from the day Premier Hariri was assassinated on the Beirut seafront, throngs of protesters rallied in Martyr's Square to commemorate the occasion.

[56] Hundreds of boats embarked on a ride from the Jounieh port in the coast of Mount Lebanon to the Beirut Marina defying the winter waves.

At the exact time the explosion occurred 3 years ago at 12:55, the crowds fell silent as the Islamic Adhan sounded through the mosques' muezzin along with the tolling of church bells symbolizing the Muslim-Christian unity.