(24 Nov 2007) ++NIGHT SHOTS++ 1. Wide of exterior of Presidential Palace in Baabda, suburbs of Beirut 2. Various of honour guard leaving 3. Lebanese President Emile Lahoud leaving palace 4. Various of Lahoud reviewing honour guard 5. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Emile Lahoud, Lebanese President: "Lebanon is neither America nor France. Lebanon is based on democracy of consensus. If America and France do not achieve a consensual president and with the quorum of two thirds then they will lose." 6. Lahoud getting into his car 7. Various of Lebanese Telecommunications Minister Marwan Hamadeh watching television 8. Close-up of television picture showing Lahoud leaving presidential palace 9. SOUNDBITE: (English) Marwan Hamadeh, Lebanese Telecommunications Minister: "I think for the Lebanese it is like New Year's eve, it is the end of an era. President Lahoud was forced upon us by the Syrian dictatorship. Tonight we got rid of him, we got rid of him constitutionally." 10. Fireworks in Beirut 11. People celebrating 12. Fireworks 13. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Ahmad Safi, Beirut resident, Vox Pop: "The history will write a new chapter for Lebanon and he (referring to Emile Lahoud) will go to the dump." 14. People jumping and chanting 15. People smashing vases STORYLINE: A military band played as Lebanese president Emile Lahoud, 71, said goodbye to his staff and reviewed an honour guard at his palace in the hilly suburb of Baabda at midnight on Friday, the legal end of his term. Lahoud served his term as president to the very last moment, a symbolic gesture of defiance to his opponents, the anti-Syrian politicians who long sought to oust Damascus' top ally in Lebanon. With no successor, he leaves behind a void - a legacy of the bitterly divisive last years of his nine-year presidency. He called on Lebanese leaders to work toward finding a consensus candidate to succeed him and described the Western-backed government of Prime Minister Fuad Saniora's government as illegitimate and unconstitutional. He then blasted the United States and France for interfering in the country's politics. "Lebanon is neither America nor France. Lebanon is based on democracy of consensus. If America and France do not achieve a consensual president and with the quorum of two thirds then they will lose." Lebanese Telecommunications Minister Marwan Hamadeh described the president's departure as "like New Year's eve." "I think for the Lebanese it is like New Year's eve, it is the end of an era. President Lahoud was forced upon us by the Syrian dictatorship. Tonight we got rid of him, we got rid of him constitutionally," Hamadeh said. At that moment, some 2-thousand government supporters set off fireworks in a Sunni Muslim district of the capital, celebrating his departure. They beat drums, distributed sweets and shouted, "Lahoud Out!" A government supporter, Ahmad Safi, said the departure of Lahoud marked the beginning of a new chapter in the country's history. "The history will write a new chapter for Lebanon and he (Emile Lahoud) will go to the dump," Safi said. Anti-Syrian factions wanted him out long ago - ever since 2005 when Syria's 29-year domination of Lebanon ended and Syrian troops were withdrawn from the country. But even after elections that year gave the anti-Syrian camp a majority in parliament and control of Saniora's government, they were unable to force him to resign. Lahoud stuck it out in an alliance with the Shiite Muslim militant group Hezbollah that foiled US hopes for a Lebanon free of Syrian influence. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/ You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/b717addc81dad20ac19576ad87640409