BEIRUT, Dec 6: Thousands of demonstrators, many camped out in a tent city in Beirut, staged a sixth day of protests on Wednesday as the opposition vowed to step up its campaign to topple Lebanon's Western-backed government.

The opposition called for a new massive demonstration on Sunday and asked the Lebanese people to prepare for other forms of peaceful protest to force the formation of a new unity government.

“We call on the Lebanese to participate en masse in a demonstration on Sunday in central Beirut at 3 pm (1300 GMT) in the hope that this will be a historic day on which our voices are heard,” the opposition said in a statement.

It also asked the Lebanese to “be ready for other forms and means of peaceful protest” to obtain the fall of the government, which is backed by an anti-Syrian parliament majority elected in 2005. It did not elaborate.

Earlier, influential pro-Syrian parliamentary speaker Nabih Berri, whose Amal group is an ally of fellow Shia movement Hezbollah, told As-Safir newspaper that the street protests would continue, but urged calm.

And Christian leader Michel Aoun warned that the Lebanese opposition, led by the Syrian-backed Hezbollah, would escalate its street protests if the government failed to accept demands for a national unity cabinet.

“If the prime minister and his camp continue to monopolise power, there will be an escalation of popular pressure,” Mr Aoun said in an interview. “We will paralyse the government, we will force it to go into a deep coma.” Deep political tensions in Lebanon and a number of street fights that have killed at least one Shia sympathiser have raised concerns of a resurgence of sectarian strife in a country still reeling from the 1975-1990 civil war.

The opposition, has held demonstrations since Friday outside Prime Minister Fuad Siniora's offices in central Beirut where he and several ministers have been holed up.

The opposition is seeking a greater say in the Siniora government, which is hanging by a thread after six pro-Damascus ministers quit.—AFP