Beirut, Lebanon ? In an unprecedented outpouring of grief and anger, mourners shouted “Syria Out!” as they crowded Beirut’s streets Wednesday to bury their former prime minister, Rafik Hariri. Lebanon’s pro-Syrian president stayed away, warned not to come by Hariri supporters who blame Damascus for his death.

In Syria, government officials were silent as American and U.N. pressure continued to mount.

The assassination “angered the international community, and this requires that we shed the light on this heinous, indescribable act,” said French President Jacques Chirac, a friend of Hariri’s who flew in to offer condolences.

Late Wednesday, Chirac and his wife accompanied Hariri’s widow, Nazek, to her slain husband’s flower-covered grave at the towering Mohammed al-Amin Mosque, which Hariri had built in downtown Beirut.

The dignitaries were surrounded by heavily armed police holding back hundreds of chanting Hariri supporters, who screamed “Syria Out, Syria Out” before singing Lebanon’s national anthem. Chirac received a rousing round of applause from the crowd, who yelled “Vive Chirac, Vive France.”

The U.S. representative at the funeral, Assistant Secretary of State William Burns, called again on Syria to withdraw its troops from Lebanon — a further spike in U.S.-Syrian tensions a day after the U.S. re-called its ambassa-dor from Damascus.

“Mr. Har-iri’s death should give — in fact it must give — renewed impetus to achieving a free, independent and sovereign Leban-on,” Burns said after a meeting with Lebanon’s foreign minister.

“And what that means is the complete and immediate withdrawal by Syria of all of its forces in Lebanon,” Burns said.

Along the funeral route, mourners draped Lebanese flags from balconies and held up pictures of the former prime minister, who was assassinated Monday by a massive bomb that also killed 16 others.

Students light candles for the slain former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri near the explosion site in Beirut. Hariri was assassinated with 16 others in a bomb attack Monday.

A huge crowd first gathered outside Hariri’s house, then marched for two hours behind the ambulance carrying his coffin to the mosque where the slain billionaire was buried.

An estimated 200,000 people gathered around the mosque for the noon funeral prayers, hanging from scaffolding and street lights to catch a glimpse of the coffin, draped in Lebanon’s red, white and green flag.

On Tuesday, the U.N. Security Council demanded Lebanon bring the culprits to justice.

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal, whose country refused France’s initial call for an international investigation, urged Lebanese authorities to hold “a quick inquiry to find the culprits and punish them.”

“Otherwise the situation in the Arab world and Lebanon will go in a bad direction,” Al-Faisal warned.

Screaming, weeping mourners turned out to pay tribute to Hariri, whom many credit with rebuilding Lebanon after its devastating 1975-90 civil war.