LEBANON - Apr. 11 - Anti-Syria Demo Cancelled; Muslims Threaten Christians.

Christian leaders call off a demonstration planned in Beirut for Apr. 11 against the Syrian presence in Lebanon after concentrated government efforts behind the scenes. But despite a state ban on demonstrations, Muslim carrying sticks, knives and axes march to Beirut's Barbir dividing line to demonstrate their support for Syria's presence and their anti-Christian feelings. (Later, Christian leaders denounced this Muslim show of force and expressed fears such acts could trigger another civil war. The 1975-90 civil war was caused by the Palestinian presence, which upset the delicately set balance among Lebanon's Christians and Muslims. The Muslims used the Palestinian military presence in their favour and now they tend to use the Syrian military presence in the same way. The Christians argue that Maronite Patriarch Sfeir's current call for Syria's withdrawal, after Israel's May 2000 military withdrawal from S. Lebanon, is a national rather than a Christian demand, whereas the Muslims' call for Syria to stay is a sectarian demand. The Muslims who say the Syrian presence is a national demand are accused of seeking to boost their political gains and numerical advantage at the expense of the Christians who have become a minority due to birth control and migration to non-Muslim countries. Some Christian leaders are quietly reviving calls of partition and separation from Muslim areas, with the Druze of Jumblatt having joined the Christian camp.