(28 Mar 2001)
Outside Bkirki
1. Two shots of Patriarch Sfeir supporters driving cars and carrying Christian parties flags
2. Various of supporters waiting outside Bkirki (the mountain seat of the Maronite Church), carrying anti-Syrian banners and shouting pro-christian slogans
Beirut Airport
3. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Cardinal Nasrallah Sfeir, Maronite Catholic patriarch
"I think this is a natural, legitimate demand for every country. It is the demand of all people, even if they do not say it loud,we are calling for a very simple thing, that Lebanon be sovereign, free and independent."
4. Lebanese Security measures outside the airport
Bkirki
5. Various of Sfeir 's motorcade arriving with difficulty to Bkirki, surrounded by supporters.
6. Various of supporters welcoming Sfeir
7. Various of Sfeir walking through supporters and surrounded by heavy security
8. Catholic bishops praying
9. Sfeir listening to prayers
10. Various of Sfeir supporters carrying crosses and Christian parties flags
11. Wide shots of supporters outside Bkirki.
STORYLINE:
Tens of thousands of Christians welcomed the return of the Maronite Catholic patriarch from a North American tour in an outpouring of loyalty that turned into a show of resentment against Syria's domination of Lebanon.
Church bells, honking cars, and folk dancing greeted Cardinal Nasrallah Sfeir, who returned on Tuesday from a six-week tour of Lebanese immigrant communities in the United States and Canada during which he repeatedly called on Syria to pull its army out of Lebanon while seeking good neighbourly relations with Damascus.
Anti-Syrian Christian groups had urged supporters to take to the streets to welcome Sfeir.
The Maronite patriarch has come under sharp criticism from Muslim extremists and from pro-Syrian groups who accused him of fueling the flames of sectarianism by his anti-Syrian campaign and dismissed him as a clergyman with little following.
Sfeir's motorcade drove from Beirut International Airport, escorted by security forces and supporters.
He was stopped several times by supporters on the road to Bkirki, the mountain seat of the Maronite Church overlooking the Mediterranean coast above the port of Jounieh north of Beirut.
Residents showered the motorcade with rice and rose petals and church bells tolled as the motorcade moved through Christian areas.
It took Sfeir more than two hours to reach Bkirki, about 25 kilometers (15miles) north of Beirut, where he offered a thanksgiving prayer.
Some who took to the streets to welcome Sfeir home carried anti-Syrian banners. "Syrian withdrawal NOW before tomorrow," read one banner on the coastal highway. Others shouted anti-Syrian slogans.
Syria's army crossed into Lebanon at the height of civil war in 1976 at the invitation of Christians, who were locked then in a battle for life with Lebanese Muslims backed by Palestinian guerrillas.
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