Screaming, weeping uncontrollably and vowing bloody revenge, tens of thousands of Lebanese mourners surrounded an ambulance as it crawled through the winding streets of Beirut today carrying the body of Rafik Hariri to his funeral.

The former Prime Minister of Lebanon was assassinated in a suicide car bomb attack on Monday along with seven of his bodyguards. In total, 16 people died and 120 people were injured in the explosion.

The killing has been widely blamed on forces from neighbouring Syria, which still occupy Lebanon. Heavily-armed police lined the route as, in an emotionally charged atmosphere, the procession turned into a spontaneous anti-Syrian demonstration.

The funeral ceremony set off from Mr Hariri's palatial Koreitem compound in an exclusive Beirut suburb, on a two-mile march through the capital to his eventual burial place at the unfinished Mohammed al-Amin mosque, whose construction he financed.

With sirens wailing, the ambulances carrying the billionaire businessman's coffin and the caskets of his bodyguards were followed on foot by Mr Hariri's three sons - Baha, Saadeddine and Ayman - who led a sea of 20,000 mourners, waving flags, banners and portraits of the charismatic leader.

Jacques Chirac, the French president, who was a close friend of the murdered man, was due to fly to Beirut to present his condolences at the mosque, where he was expected to be joined by senior figures from other European and Arab countries.

But Mr Harari's family and supporters had warned representatives of the pro-Syrian Lebanese government to stay away. The Syrian Vice President Abdul-Halim Khaddam, a close family friend, arrived at the mosque ahead of the funeral service, but did not take part in the procession.

Mosques blared prayers and church bells tolled as the procession erupted noisily, with visibly enraged mourners shouting insults at Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and demanding him to "remove your dogs from Beirut".

In a break with Islamic tradition, hundreds of women marched alongside Sunni Muslim clerics, weeping and waving white handkerchiefs, after Mr Hariri's family explicitly said that female mourners would be welcome.

Mr Hariri was Lebanon’s prime minister for 10 of the 14 years following the end of the bloody 1975-90 civil war and was credited by many with rebuilding the war-ravaged country.

He resigned last October, to express his opposition to a Syrian-backed constitutional amendment that enabled his rival, the pro-Damascus Emile Lahoud, to extend his term as Lebanon’s president for a further three years.

As Lebanese grieved on the second of three days of national mourning, international pressure mounted against this country to find Hariri’s killers. Washington has recalled its ambassador from Syria, and renewed calls on Damascus to withdraw its 14,000 soldiers from Lebanon.

Syria deployed its forces to Lebanon during the 1975-90 civil war but remained following the end of the conflict, a source of frustration visibly demonstrated in today's parade.

"Hariri was a peaceful man and a nationally loved leader. He rebuilt Beirut and Beirut loved him," said one weeping mourner.

"We are all shouting for Syria to get out. I want to kill someone today - a Syrian," said another.

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