BIKFAYA, Lebanon (AP) – Mourners wept and showered rice Wednesday on the coffin of a slain government minister who opposed Syrian influence in this divided nation, as his supporters mobilized for a massive show of force at his funeral in the capital, Beirut.

A strong turnout Thursday could further fuel the political crisis between anti-Syrian forces who back the Lebanese government and pro-Syrian groups led by the Shiite Muslim group Hezbollah, which wants to topple the Western-backed prime minister, Fuad Saniora.

Just days before Tuesday’s assassination of prominent Christian politician Pierre Gemayel, Hezbollah had threatened to hold mass protests of its own against the government. A Hezbollah official said Wednesday that the group would not carry out any action in the next few days “in order to calm the emotions.” The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.

Still, in the newly charged atmosphere, many feared the crisis could move into the volatile streets.

“This is scary. If things continue this way, who knows where we are heading,” said Tony Gemayel, a 35-year-old relative participating in mourning ceremonies held by the Maronite Christian family in their ancestral hometown of Bikfaya in the mountains above Beirut.

In a sign of the heightened tensions in Bikfaya, some two dozen soldiers and an armored personnel carrier guarded the offices of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party, a pro-Syrian party whose premises were attacked by a mob of angry Gemayel supporters Tuesday night.

Mr. Saniora asked the United Nations for “technical assistance” in finding the 34-year-old industry minister’s killers, amid widespread accusations that Syria was behind it. Damascus denied the claim.

The prime minister also received a boost from America, with President Bush calling him to promise “unwavering support” for his government.

Gemayel was killed after two cars blocked his vehicle at an intersection in a Beirut suburb as he left a church. Assassins shot him numerous times through a side window.

He was the fifth anti-Syrian figure killed in Lebanon in two years.

Some supporters called for revenge against Syria and its allies. But Pierre Gemayel’s father Amin – a former president – and the Maronite Church quickly urged calm, hoping to avert an explosion of violence in the multi-sectarian nation of 4 million already struggling with a deepening political crisis.

During Lebanon’s 1975-90 civil war, such a killing would have triggered mass retaliation.

“In the face of the dark forces that try to destroy the country, I call on all Lebanese not to be overwhelmed by hatred, but to strengthen national unity, justice and reconciliation,” Pope Benedict XVI told pilgrims Wednesday in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican.

The government canceled Independence Day celebrations nationwide. In the Christian heartland north and northeast of Beirut, schools and shops were closed and traffic was light. But, underlining the political and sectarian divide, businesses were open as usual in Shiite areas in south Beirut where Hezbollah dominates.

Bikfaya’s main street and square were draped with white ribbons. Pictures of the slain minister with a black stripe of mourning were posted on walls and car windows.

Gemayel’s coffin, draped in the flag of his Phalange Party, was driven from Beirut up to the town, nestled in Mount Lebanon’s pine woods. It was followed by motorists waving the Phalange flag – white with a green cedar tree in the middle. The cortege stopped at the town entrance where – next to a statue of Pierre Gemayel’s grandfather, the party’s founder – pallbearers lifted the casket on to their shoulders and carried it to the stone-walled house.

Supporters jolted the coffin in a traditional expression of extreme anguish as it passed through hundreds of weeping mourners. Women on apartment balconies showered rice on the coffin as it made its way.

In the Gemayel home, nuns and priests led by a bishop relative said prayers around the closed coffin as relatives and thousands of villagers and supporters walked past and paid condolences to his father. Standing next to Amin Gemayel was Pierre’s cousin, Nadim Gemayel, who lost his father, president-elect Bashir Gemayel, in a bomb explosion in 1982.

In the Beirut suburb of Jdeideh where he was gunned down, several hundred supporters turned out Wednesday night for a candlelight vigil around the shot up vehicle, which was guarded by troops.

Tiny Lebanon is one of the most politically complex and volatile countries in the Middle East, with deep divisions among its Christian, Sunni Muslim and Shiite Muslim communities. Each community accounts for about a third of the country’s population, though Shiites – most of whose leaders are backed by Syria and Iran – edge out the others with a plurality.

On Tuesday, Mr. Bush accused Syria and Iran of trying to undermine Lebanon’s government, but he stopped short of blaming them for the killing. Syria condemned the assassination and denied any role in it.

Mr. Saniora has linked Gemayel’s slaying to the issue that sparked the political crisis with Hezbollah: a plan for an international court to try suspects in the 2005 assassination of former Premier Rafik Hariri.

That killing triggered an international outcry and massive street demonstrations at home that forced Syria to pull its thousands of troops out and end a 29-year domination of its smaller neighbor.

The head of the Maronite church and anti-Syrian politicians expressed fears of more killings of Cabinet members aimed at bringing down the government and preventing it from approving the Hariri tribunal, which the U.N. Security Council approved hours after Gemayel’s slaying.

“It seems the Syrian regime is continuing the assassinations,” Walid Jumblatt, the political leader of Lebanon’s Druse community, said Wednesday. “I expect more assassinations, but whatever they do, we are here and we will triumph.”