Lokman Slim, an activist and publisher who ran a research center, speaks during an interview, in a still image taken from Reuters TV footage shot on February 2, 2009, in Beirut, Lebanon. Photo: Reuters TV/via REUTERS

i24 News – Dozens of Lebanese journalists and activists held a rally in central Beirut on Saturday afternoon where they chanted slogans and condemned the assassination of secular activist and Hezbollah critic Lokman Slim, according to Lebanese media.

Slim, a fierce critic of the Shi’ite terror organization Hezbollah, was found dead Thursday from an apparent gunshot wound in the south of the country, a security source said.

“He was found dead in his car, killed by a bullet to the head,” the source added.

Protesters and independent activist groups said they were organizing the rally under the banner: “We are all Lokman Slim.”

Organizers said they wanted to hold the demonstration in order to “condemn the assassination and display a unified position in the face of injustice, aggression, and murder suffered by the Lebanese people,” according to French-language daily L’orient-le Jour.

Dozens of demonstrators responded to the call and assembled at the rallying point with Lebanese flags in hand, L’orient-le Jour added.

Although Lebanese security sources did not immediately elaborate on the circumstances of Slim’s death, his sister maintained, even before the incident was officially confirmed, that his then-disappearance was almost inevitably linked to his vocal criticism of Hezbollah.

He has often been attacked by the pro-Hezbollah press for positions deemed favorable toward the United States.

Slim’s murder comes almost exactly six months since a massive explosion — which has been described as one of the largest non-nuclear blasts in history — devastated Beirut’s port, leaving more than 200 dead, thousands wounded, and tens of thousands homeless.