(A Lebanese man holds up a picture of Lebanon's slain former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in front of a poster of Hariri in the Martyrs' Square, in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Oct. 23, 2005. Photo: Reuters)

Thousands of people on Monday took to the street to protest against a UN report implicating Syria's involvement in the killing of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and show support to President Bashar al-Assad.

The demonstrators, holding high national flags, big portraits of Assad and long banners and chanting slogans in support of Assad, flooded several main squares in the Syrian capital.

"We will defend you Bashar with our blood and our souls," some people chanted.

The protest came one day before a scheduled meeting of the UN Security Council to consider response to the report presented by chief investigator Detlev Mehlis to UN chief Kofi Annan last Thursday after five months of investigations.

The report mentioned "converging evidence" of Syrian and Lebanese involvement in the murder of Hariri and accused Damascus of blocking and misleading the probe.

The Syrian government has vehemently denied any involvement in the murder of Hariri and dismissed the findings as politically motivated and far from truth.

Assad on Sunday sent letters to Security Council members to explain Syria's position over the UN probe, the official SANA newsagency said.

The demonstrators echoed the government's disapproval of the report, as some banners said, "Excuse me Mr. Mehlis the report didnot convince me and it only serves Zionist and American goals" and"Mehlis has not the truth."

They said they believed that the United States was behind the report because of Syria's struggle against Israel and its opposition to the US-led war on Iraq in 2003.

"We are not afraid of America, down with America," some young people chanted, while some held banners saying "Syria is not another Iraq."

The United States has urged the Security Council to consider action against Syria for its alleged involvement in the Feb. 14 killing.

Hariri's death led to renewed calls for withdrawal of all Syrian troops and intelligence agents that had been in Lebanon since the early stages of that country's 1975-1990 civil war.

Syria withdrew troops from neighboring Lebanon in April amid growing international pressure.

(Source: Xinhua)