BEIRUT: Around 250 demonstrators staged a sit-in amid strict security measures Friday near the U.S. Embassy in Beirut to celebrate the recent U.S. withdrawal from Iraq.

Lebanese security forces blocked roads leading to the embassy in Awkar, north of Beirut, to prevent demonstrators from reaching the facility. Security was also tight around the U.S. Embassy itself, witnesses said.

Security sources said dozens of policemen and Lebanese Army personnel manned road intersections leading to the embassy. A 1-km radius around the embassy had also been closed to traffic in an attempt to curb any possible riot, according to the sources.

The protesters marched peacefully from Dbayyeh, where they gathered, to Awkar, about 1 km away.

The Socialist Arab Lebanon Vanguard Party, headed by former Tripoli MP Abdul-Majid al-Rafei, had issued a statement saying it planned to stage a two-hour sit-in outside the U.S. Embassy between 1 and 3 p.m. Friday.