The rally took place in downtown Beirut's at the Place des Martyrs, which honors six Lebanese nationalists who were hanged by the Ottomans during World War I.

Ever since the issue of having Turkish troops in the UN force came up , the Armenian community opposed it and rallied against it. But today was the largest rally against the presence of the Turkish troops in Lebanon

The crowd, drawn from an Armenian community of about 140,000 people, held high banners denouncing the presence of Turkish troops as "an insult to the collective memory of the Armenian people", while waving Armenian, Lebanese and French flags.

“A murderer cannot be a peacekeeper “ read one banner

"Genocide, massacre, deportation: Turkey's definition of peace," read another banner.

Earlier Thursday, French deputies approved a bill making it a crime to deny that the 1915-1917 massacre of Armenians by the Ottomans was genocide, provoking the fury of Turkey, the modern state that emerged from the Ottoman Empire.

"What France has done is very good. The Lebanese government should do the same instead of welcoming Turkish troops," said an elderly demonstrator who gave his name as Taurus.

"Chirac is on the right track," said one of the organizers, Sarkis Katchadorian, referring to French President Jacques Chirac.

Overriding widespread opposition, the Turkish parliament approved a government bill on September 5 to contribute troops to the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) following a ceasefire that ended 34 days of fighting and the UN welcomed their decision.

In total, Turkey is to deploy some 700 soldiers in Lebanon, including troops aboard naval ships. Those that landed on Tuesday were the first Muslim peacekeepers to arrive in the war-scarred country.

Turkey contests the term "genocide" and strongly opposed the French bill.

It says 300,000 Armenians, and at least as many Turks, died in civil strife when Armenians took up arms for independence and sided with invading Russian troops as the Ottoman Empire fell apart during World War I.

Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their ancestors were slaughtered in orchestrated killings, which they maintain can only be seen as genocide.

The French bill must now go to the Senate, or upper house of parliament, for a vote.