For the next five hours, Hizbullah supporters thronged the streets of south Beirut and other towns in Lebanon, waving the party's yellow flags, blocking traffic -- including cars trying to get to Beirut airport -- and burning tires.

Their reaction has raised serious questions about Lebanon's reputation as the most politically tolerant nation in the Arab world.

Rebuking the rioters, Social Affairs Minister Nayla Mouawad pointed out that the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation TV program was known for poking fun at politicians of all colors. "If everyone were to respond this way, then we would all be in the street."

Mouawad, who herself was spoofed in previous episodes of the program, told reporters "such criticism should be accepted by everyone."

Nasrallah himself appealed on the party's TV channel for his supporters "to end the gatherings and go home."

The producer of the TV satire, Charbel Khalil, apologized. He said he deeply respected Nasrallah and the show "was not meant to offend him."

However, Abdul-Hadi Mahfouz, the chairman of Lebanon's press watchdog the National Media Council, convened an emergency meeting Friday and demanded an apology from LBC. If the station did not apologize, he added, it could face legal action.

Satellite service providers in Beirut's southern suburbs, where Hizbullah enjoys strong support, announced Friday they would boycott LBC until the channel apologized.

LBC executive director, Pierre Daher, issued a statement arguing that the station respects Nasrallah as a "religious and national leader."

However, he pointed out that "it is difficult to draw the line between the religious man and the political figure when these two characteristics are embodied in the same person."

Daher added that freedom of opinion was enshrined in Lebanon's constitution.

The Interior Ministry issued a summons for the producer to be questioned by a magistrate.

But Information Minister Ghazi Aridi took issue with the move, saying that the matter was under his ministry's jurisdiction. He also appealed for "calm, wisdom and reason," adding the issue would be dealt with according to the law.

The trouble over the program reflects the boiling political tension in the country between parties allied and opposed to Syria. Hizbullah, backed by Syria and Iran, has been accused by the anti-Syrian camp of serving Damascus' interests in Lebanon. Pro-Syrian factions accuse the anti-Syrian parliamentary majority of working for the United States.

The program , which can translate into "A Nation's Smiles" or "A Nation That Died," depending how it is pronounced, showed an actor in the role of Nasrallah talking about his alliance with Gen Michel Aoun. The actor wore Nasrallah's trademark black turban, his clerical robe and sported a similar beard and spectacles.

In the scene that provoked the riot, a woman -- played by a man in drag -- asks Nasrallah whether Hizbullah would lay down its arms after Israel's withdraws from the disputed border region of Shabaa.

Nasrallah replies that Hizbullah's weapons will still be needed for "liberating the house of Abu Hassan in Detroit from his Jewish neighbor."

Many Shiites of Lebanese origin live in the U.S. city of Detroit. So the remark was a dig at the endless justifications Hizbullah will provide to keep its weapons -- despite a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for the group's disarmament.

Four people were wounded when they were beaten up with sticks by the rioters in the Christian district of Ashrafiyeh, including Sami Gemayel, the son of former President Amin Gemayel.

"We were waiting for the army to prevent the protestors from entering Ashrafiyeh. We did not want them to enter Monot street. Suddenly dozens of them appeared and attacked us. They beat us up and hit us with wood sticks and metal rods," Gemayel to Agence France Presse.

In the southern suburbs, despite the army deployment, some rioters entered the Christian district of Ain el-Rummaneh where one person was attacked with a stick.(AP-Naharnet)