ARAB-AFFAIRS - Apr. 21 - 'Anti-Syrian Demonstrators Being Manipulated'.

Lebanese Pres. Lahoud says students who have been demonstrating against the Syrian presence in Lebanon are being manipulated by outside forces. He says in a statement: "Young people must realise that those who are raising their voices today are being manipulated by embassies or capitals which are playing Israel's game". He says: "We shall deal with this issue in terms of our mutual [Lebanese and Syrian] interests, and not in terms of Israeli interests and exaggerated demands coming from the streets, manipulated by forces whose past and whose aims are well known". (Lahoud's comments follow days of unrest in 3 of Beirut's universities by followers of former PM GeneraL Michel Aoun, who is known for his anti-Syrian views.) Some 1,000 students demonstrated on Apr. 19 at 3 university campuses to protest at repression of liberties and to demand the pullout of Israeli and Syrian troops from Lebanon. On Apr. 20, 8 Aoun supporters began a hunger strike to protest their arrest at rallies earlier in the week. The students, who were sentenced on Apr. 18 to as much as 45 days for "confronting the police and insulting the army", wrote a letter protesting their detention and the "savage repression" of authorities. They said they rejected their sentence, handed down by a military court, because "we are the ones who were beaten during the demonstrations". (Syria is the main power broker in Lebanon.)