Hundreds of thousands of Lebanese on Tuesday marked the first anniversary of the killing of Rafiq Hariri, the former prime minister, with virulent attacks against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and calls for the resignation of the pro-Syrian Lebanese president.

As crowds, estimated at more than half a million out of a population of less than 4m, flooded Beirut’s central Martyrs’ square, Walid Jumblatt, a main anti-Syrian politician, denounced Mr Assad as the “tyrant of Damascus” and a “terrorist.” He insisted that Lebanon would never be rid of Syrian influence as long as Emile Lahoud, the president, remained in office.