The signal from Damascus came as tens of thousands of Christians, Druze and Muslims took to the streets of Beirut chanting anti-Syrian slogans in the biggest demonstrations in the Lebanese capital for many years.

President Bush, speaking in Brussels on the first day of his European tour, added to the pressure by demanding that Syria end its occupation of its much smaller neighbour.

“Just as the Syrian regime must take stronger action to stop those who support violence and subversion in Iraq, and must end its support for terrorist groups seeking to destroy the hope of peace between Israelis and Palestinians, Syria must also end its occupation of Lebanon,” he said.

The European Union joined the United States in demanding that Lebanon’s elections in May be free of foreign interference, and calling for an immediate international investigation into the killing of Rafik Hariri, the billionaire tycoon and former Lebanese Prime Minister, who died in a bomb blast a week ago.

Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, said that over Syria the EU was “on exactly the same page as the US”.

The killing of Mr Hariri has turned the spotlight firmly on Syria, with many Lebanese openly blaming Damascus, and Washington all but doing so.

Amr Moussa, the Secretary-General of the Arab League, met President Assad of Syria in Damascus yesterday and afterward quoted Mr Assad as saying that a “Syrian withdrawal is part of Syrian policy and (we) will see steps in this direction very soon”.

Mr Moussa said that the Syrian President had “stressed more than once his firm determination to go on with implementing the Taif agreement and achieve a Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon”.

The 1989 agreement was an accord between Lebanon’s factions that helped to end the 1975-90 civil war and outlined Syria’s role in postwar Lebanon. It said that Syria and Lebanon should agree a timetable for Syria’s military to withdraw, but that has not yet happened.

The streets in Beirut’s hotel district near the site where Mr Hariri was killed were filled yesterday with a crowd of people of different faiths chanting “Syria out, Syria out!” and “Liberation, Freedom, Independence!” One banner read: “Syrial killer.”

Many of them wore red scarves, which, since Mr Hariri’s death, have become a motif of their effort to end Syrian influence in Lebanon.

Some bore a huge placard naming Lebanese politicans who have been assassinated, starting with Kamal Jumblatt, the Druze leader, who was killed near a Syrian army checkpoint in 1977. “Enough is enough,” it proclaimed.

Times Recommends

• Divided Kirkuk faces up to curse of oil
• Revenge killer hailed hero joins Ossetian war
• The perfect way to swat a fly: stay one jump ahead