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The BBC's Wyre Davies: "This will be a huge event."
Thousands have gathered in Beirut's Martyrs' Square for the funeral of security chief Wissam al-Hassan.
His coffin has been met by Lebanon's president and prime minister at Beirut's police headquarters, close to the site of the car bomb which killed Hassan and two others on Friday.
Lebanon's opposition has blamed the attack on Syria.
A BBC correspondent says the funeral may turn into a huge rally against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Everyone's fear is that the civil war in Syria may spill over into Lebanon and that more violence is inevitable, Wyre Davies reports from Beirut.
"Really, we are waiting for the fall of the regime in Syria. Until that happens there can be no peace in Lebanon," one woman told him in Martyrs' Square.
Syria connection
President Michel Suleiman and Prime Minister Najib Mikati - who has come under fire over the killing - greeted Hassan's coffin at a ceremony at the headquarters of the Internal Security Forces (ISF).
The former intelligence chief's wife and children were also there, flown over from Paris where they had been sent for their safety some months ago
Tight security was in place in Beirut ahead of the funeral, which moves on to Martyrs' Square after the ceremony at the ISF building.
Saad al-Hariri, leader of Lebanon's Future Movement party and a close ally of Hassan, called on as many people as possible to attend.
Analysis
Syria's brutal civil is already being played out on the streets of Tripoli, the northern Lebanese city where pro-Syrian (Alawite) and Sunni anti-Assad factions have fought fierce gun battles on at least two occasions this year.
One of General Wissam al-Hassan's most high-profile recent moves was the uncovering of an alleged plot that led to the arrest of a former minister, Michel Samaha.
He was detained on charges of collaborating with members of the Syrian government to import explosives and launch attacks in Lebanon.
It would, so the argument goes, suit the purposes of the Assad government to "export" its civil war to Lebanon - a warning to those who are calling for Assad's removal that wider regional conflict would be the only outcome if the regime in Damascus were to fall.
Hassan, who was 47, headed the intelligence arm of Lebanon's internal security forces and was close to Mr Hariri.
He will be buried alongside Mr Hariri's father, former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, an official is quoted as saying by AFP news agency.
Rafik Hariri was killed by a car bomb in Beirut in 2005. Hassan led an investigation implicating Damascus in the attack.
Saad Hariri said the funeral should be attended by "all of Lebanon, which Wissam al-Hassan protected from the plots of Bashar al-Assad".
Hassan also recently organised the arrest of a former minister accused of planning a Syrian-sponsored bombing campaign in Lebanon.
A day after the bombing, Prime Minister Najib Mikati suggested the attack had been connected with that case.
A day of national mourning was held on Saturday. Residents in the mainly Christian district of Ashrafiya, where the bomb went off, held a vigil for the victims.
Burning tyresAlso on Saturday, Mr Mikati offered to resign as PM, but President Michel Suleiman asked him to stay on in the national interest.
Wissam al-Hassan
- Head of the intelligence branch of Lebanon's Internal Security Forces
- Sunni Muslim born in the northern city of Tripoli in 1965
- Responsible for the security of former PM Rafik Hariri
- Viewed as being close to the Hariris and the opposition 14 March coalition
- Responsible for the August arrest of pro-Syrian politician and ex-information minister Michel Samaha
Opposition supporters set up roadblocks and burnt tyres in Beirut, denouncing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his Lebanese allies.
Similar protests were held in Sidon in the south, Tripoli in the north and in the Bekaa Valley in the east.
Tension in Lebanon has been rising as a result of the Syrian conflict.
Lebanon's religious communities are divided between those who support the government of Syrian President Assad - including many Shias - and those mostly from the Sunni community who back the rebels.
Lebanon's Shia militant group Hezbollah - a close ally of the Syrian government - condemned the bombing.
Syrian Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi called it a "cowardly, terrorist act". He said such incidents were "unjustifiable wherever they occur".
One Lebanese mourner in Beirut, Samer al-Hirri, said he had travelled some distance to pay his respects.
"Wissan al-Hassan is from our area and we came here to bid him farewell," he told the Associated Press news agency. "He was killed while defending his country."
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