Several people were injured as security forces used tear gas on Sunday to repel demonstrators trying to storm the Grand Serail, the headquarters of the Lebanese government in downtown Beirut, amid calls for Prime Minister Najib Miqati to resign.

Following the funeral nearby of slain Maj. Gen. Wissam al-Hasan, chief of the Internal Security Forces' Intelligence Bureau, "young people headed towards the building in the city center, but security forces blocked them by firing into the air and using tear gas," a policeman on the scene told Agence France Presse.

President Michel Suleiman on Sunday stressed that the government “must not provide cover for perpetrators and criminals” and called for “speeding up the indictments” in the cases of ex-minister Michel Samaha and the Nahr al-Bared clashes, in a speech eulogizing slain Maj. Gen. Wissam a-Hasan, chief of the Internal Security Forces' Intelligence Bureau.

“I cannot but express my deep feelings of grief and pain over the martyrs, topped by Maj. Gen. Wissam al-Hasan and Chief Warrant Officer Ahmed Suhyooni, and I extend my warmest condolences to the families of the martyrs, their comrades, the minister of interior, the prime minister and everyone who loved the martyrs,” said Suleiman at the ISF headquarters in Ashrafiyeh.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Sunday that Syria was probably involved in the Ashrafiyeh car bombing that killed Intelligence Bureau chief Maj. Gen. Wissam al-Hasan and at least three other people.

"It is likely... Everything indicates that this is an extension of the Syrian tragedy," Fabius told French television, accusing Syrian President Bashar Assad of spreading his country's conflict beyond its borders.

After this tragic event, we would like to gather on this page tributes to the martyrs who lost their lives, hoping that this would not be vainly.

Please post your comments and feelings. We would urge you not to use this forum to vent anger at each other or cursing the “other”. We want this page to be kept clean and full of dignity.

Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun on Sunday accused "some parties" of turning the assassination of Internal Security Forces Intelligence Bureau chief Maj. Gen. Wissam al-Hasan into a "political battle," warning that violence "would facilitate the mission of those plotting against Lebanon."

"Maj. Gen. Wissam al-Hasan is the martyr of the entire country, not only the martyr of his security institution," Aoun said at a press conference in Rabiyeh.

Thousands of mourners participated in Sunday's funeral of slain Major General Wissam al-Hasan, chief of the Internal Security Forces Intelligence Bureau, who was killed by a powerful car bombing on Friday blamed on the Damascus regime.

Anti-Syria opposition chief ex-premier Saad Hariri had called for a huge turnout for the funeral of the fallen general and thousands of people took part in the ceremony outside the Mohammed al-Amine Mosque in Beirut's Martyrs Square.

Intensive contacts were held overnight Friday-Saturday between Prime Minister Najib Miqati and Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat and his ministers, during which Jumblat rejected Miqati's suggestion that he would submit his resignation, official sources said.

“Jumblat rejected Miqati's resignation out of fear of a governmental vacuum and the inability of any caretaker cabinet to control security should the situations deteriorate,” sources close to the premiership told the pan-Arab al-Hayat newspaper in remarks published Sunday.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon contacted on Saturday Prime Minister Najib Miqati to express his “solidarity with the Lebanese people” after the assassination of Internal Security Forces Intelligence Bureau head Brigadier General Wissam al-Hasan.

Ban "expressed strong solidarity with the people of Lebanon and commended the prime minister, the government and the president (Michel Suleiman) for their handling of the matter," the U.N. statement said.

British Ambassador to Lebanon Tom Fletcher denounced on Saturday the assassination of Internal Security Forces Intelligence Bureau head Brigadier General Wissam al-Hasan, calling on the Lebanese to unite.

“The attack is against the Lebanese state and its people and all those who love Lebanon... We will cooperate with the Lebanese authorities in the upcoming days to encourage unity, stability and sovereignty,” Fletcher said after holding talks with President Michel Suleiman at the Baabda Palace.

French President Francois Hollande urged on Saturday his Lebanese counterpart President Michel Suleiman and Prime Minister Najib Miqati to avoid any political vacuum in the country and for the cabinet to continue its tasks.

“It's very important that Lebanon doesn't fall in a political vacuum... The cabinet must carry on with its tasks,” Hollande said in a letter conveyed to Suleiman by French Ambassador to Lebanon Patrice Paoli.