Lebanon's Christians were this week mourning the assassination of Pierre Gemayel, an anti-Syrian Cabinet Minister and scion of Lebanon's most prominent Christian family. Mr Gemayel was shot on Tuesday afternoon as he drove through the capital's Eastern Christian neighbourhood of Jdeideh.

Witnesses said at least three gunmen sprayed Mr Gemayel's grey Kia car with dozens of bullets from automatic weapons equipped with silencers. Mr Gemayel, who was 34, was rushed to hospital where he later died of his wounds as weeping family and supporters waited anxiously outside.

The son of former President Amin Gemayel, Pierre Gemayel was a member of the Christian Phalange Party founded by his grandfather. Although Amin Gemayel urged supporters to remain calm and avoid retribution, in Beirut's Christian areas on Tuesday night angry protesters took to the streets chanting slogans against the Syrian-backed Islamic militant group Hezbollah and Michel Aoun, the pro-Syrian Christian leader.

"I have one wish, that tonight be a night of prayer to contemplate the meaning of this martyrdom and how to protect this country," said Amin Gemayel. On Wednesday morning, church bells tolled across the hills east of Beirut as the body of the murdered politician was taken to his native village of Bikfaya. Thousands of people watched as his coffin, draped in a white flag emblazoned wiith a green cedar - the symbol of the Phalange party - was borne in procession to the Gemayel family home.

Huge crowds were also expected to gather in Beirut on Thursday for Mr Gemayel's funeral, which was to be held in St George's Cathedral.

"Gemayel's assassination is an operation trying to kill the hope of the people," said Fr Joseph Abu Ghazale, parish priest at the Maronite Church of St Anthony, some 50 metres from where Gemayel was gunned down.

Like his father and late uncle - Bashir Gemayel, who was killed in 1982 shortly after he was elected president - Gemayel was a strong opponent of the influence of Syria, which is blamed by many Lebanese for the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri in February last year.

The killing has ramped up tensions in Lebanon amid a political crisis pitting the anti-Syrian majority Government against the pro-Damascus opposition led by Hezbollah, which is determined to topple what it characterises as an American puppet government.