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

As crowds estimated at more than 500,000 - out of a population of less than 4m - flooded Beirut's central Martyrs' square, Walid Jumblatt, a leading 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.