KEY POINTS:
BEIRUT - Lebanon's political crisis showed no sign of easing yesterday, with the pro-Syrian Opposition pressing its protest campaign to topple the Western-backed Government.
Thousands of protesters from Hizbollah and its allies spent a second night in a tent city in downtown Beirut, within earshot of the office-turned-residence of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora.
"Beirut is free, Siniora out," thousands chanted during a rally at a central square. The protesters said they would not leave before the Government fell.
"We assure the Lebanese that change is coming soon. A national unity government will be achieved," Hizbollah MP Hussein Haj Hassan told the group's al-Manar television from the camp city.
Siniora, who again vowed that he would not be forced out of office by the protests, received backing from the visiting German and British foreign ministers and calls of support from a host of Arab leaders and Western officials.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier spoke in favour of the Siniora Government.
Siniora's office said US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice expressed support in a phone call to the Prime Minister.
- REUTERS
