Lebanese opposition vows bigger push to topple govt

BEIRUT, Dec 6 (Reuters) Lebanon's Hezbollah-led opposition said today it was ready to escalate its campaign to topple the Western-backed government and called for a new mass demonstration on Sunday.

Thousands of flag-waving opposition followers demonstrated for a sixth day near government headquarters, paralysing the commercial and banking heart of Beirut, to demand that Prime Minister Fouad Siniora quit.

Hundreds of thousands of opposition supporters took part in a similar rally on Friday and many have maintained a round-the-clock vigil in a tent camp in the city centre.

''We hope that this day (Sunday) would be a historic and decisive day, a day in which ... the legitimate demands are met and ... a government of national unity replaces the one-sided government,'' the opposition said in a statement.

It told supporters ''to prepare for new methods and forms of peaceful protests'' without giving further details.

Siniora earlier urged the opposition to end the street protests and return to the negotiating table, vowing he would not be forced from power.

''The street will not resolve any problem ... there is no other way than to sit down and talk,'' Siniora told cheering supporters at his downtown offices.

The protests have sparked several sectarian clashes between Shi'ite Muslims who back Hezbollah and Siniora's mainly Sunni supporters, raising fears of large-scale violence in a country that has suffered two civil wars in the last 50 years.

The opposition is demanding the formation of a national unity government and accuses Siniora of failing to stand by pro-Syrian Hezbollah during a summer war with Israel.

Siniora allies accuse their opponents of using the protests to try to derail an international tribunal to try suspects in the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri, which many Lebanese blame on Syria -- a charge Damascus denies.

DEADLOCK The influential council of Maronite Christian bishops demanded the formation of a new government and early elections to replace pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud, a Maronite.

Lahoud's term is due to end in November 2007. Parliament, which has an anti-Syrian majority, elects the president.

''The date must be brought closer for electing a person who would be agreed upon who can work on unifying the people within a just state and who launches the process of reform and the rebuilding of state institutions,'' the bishops said in a statement after a monthly meeting.

Compromises floated by Lebanese politicians and Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa have failed to break the deadlock.

Hezbollah and its allies, among them a populist Christian party, want just over one third of all cabinet seats, handing them effective veto power.

Political sources said Siniora appeared to have accepted a proposal to increase the number of cabinet posts to 30 from 24.

Nine or ten of these posts would go to the opposition, 19 to the anti-Syrian coalition and one or two to neutral ministers.

The opposition indicated this fell short of its demands.

The ruling majority says it will back a government of national unity, but only as part of a broader deal that would ensure parliament's approval of plans for the Hariri tribunal and early presidential elections.

Government and opposition supporters have accused each other of fuelling sectarian divisions. A Shi'ite protester was shot dead on Sunday, and Hezbollah loyalists say this was the work of ''militias'' loyal to Saad al-Hariri, Rafik's son and head of the anti-Syrian majority.

He has denied the accusation and warned Hezbollah not to turn to its own, well-armed guerrilla force in the stand-off.

REUTERS BDP RAI2304