Lebanese views on MP's killing

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People in Lebanon give their reaction to the assassination of anti-Syrian MP Antoine Ghanim in Beirut on Wednesday.

The bombing killed five other people and wounded more than 70. It came six days before parliament was due to elect a new Maronite Christian president.

DALILA, 21, FREELANCE WRITER, BEIRUT

For once, [President Emile] Lahoud has said something I agree with: whenever there are signs of positive developments in this country, someone gets blown up.

I don't know who's behind the attacks, but it's certainly not benefiting the population.

A lot of people blame Syria for everything that goes wrong here - I'm not going to do that.

It benefits the people at the top and the militias. All the politicians in this country have their own militias from the civil war. They keep them to bully rival politicians.

The constitution tries to give everyone a say - but we're stuck with a bunch of politicians who are basically leaders of tribal sectarian gangs.

Children aren't taught at school what happened in the civil war. There are no real national archives and no museum about it. So people are just forgetting.

Children only hear what their parents say about the war, so they're being brainwashed with all this hostility towards their fellow Lebanese citizens.

We must decide what's important. Is it having your religious sect in power? Or having a booming economy and tourism industry?

LARA, 29, PICTURE EDITOR, BEIRUT

The brother of a friend of mine was injured on Wednesday. He is in hospital with second-degree burns and a serious eye injury.

Why kill all these innocent people with bombs? If they have to kill politicians, why not use poison and be done with it?

My friend's brother just happened to be there, it's not his fault he's injured.

I'm not into politics that much. Wednesday was the first time I even knew this guy [Antoine Ghanim] existed.

I think politicians are corrupt. They should just settle their stupid differences.

AHMED, 41, UNIVERSITY LECTURER, TRIPOLI

The people who did this are the same people who were behind the murder of Rafik Hariri. For sure it's the same people. Syria.

Syria made Hezbollah ... it's like a country within a country

There's nobody else interested in destroying Lebanon - apart from Israel, that is.

When the Syrian army was here, Syria was milking Lebanon dry. Syria was robbing our banks, our casinos, our Treasury, everything.

Now with all the assassinations and with Fatah al-Islam - they want us to beg them to come back.

Syria made Hezbollah - it gives them weapons. It's like a country within a country.

We're hoping against hope that the presidential elections go through. We fear that if there are a couple more murders, if things go wrong, we'll end up with another pro-Syrian president.

Most universities are starting term on 27 September - they want it to be after the elections on the 25th.

I hope things can proceed peacefully, but I doubt it.

TIMA, 40, DOCUMENTARY-MAKER, BEIRUT

I'm sitting on the beach right now, the weather is beautiful. There are a few people here, but we are a little apprehensive.

I'm less keen than some to point the finger at Syria - or anyone

It was three months and three days since the last assassination, so it was always in the back our minds that something else could happen.

I think everybody is a suspect at this point. It could be a purely internal thing, it could be foreign involvement.

I am less keen than some to point the finger at Syria - or at anyone.

We have a lot of police intelligence officers. It's hard to believe how they never come up with any proof of who did it.

The attack does play directly into forcing the popularity of a certain group which feels it is being targeted.

Politically, I think there will be some sort of compromise as is always the way in Lebanon.

People need to meet each other half-way for life to go on.