THE Lebanese government appeared paralysed yesterday as thousands of Hezbollah supporters camped out in central Beirut to increase pressure on the western-backed government of prime minister Fouad Siniora to resign.

Despite fears of violence the protest remained peaceful early in the day. Demonstrators chanted slogans from their camp 50 yards from Siniora’s office.

Hundreds of soldiers cordoned off ministers’ offices behind barbed wire while the protesters, many wrapped in blankets, huddled by camp fires.

Hezbollah, the militant Shi’ite group, has warned that the protests will continue until the government falls.

Hundreds of thousands of opposition supporters had flooded the streets of central Beirut on Friday, when Hezbollah was backed by other Shi’ite parties and some Christian factions.

In this war of nerves the government received a boost from King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, who told Siniora that his country supported it. Margaret Beckett, the foreign secretary, also visited the prime minister yesterday to express Britain’s support.

The goal of Hezbollah, led by Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, is to topple Siniora by stopping the government from functioning.

Intelligence reports suggest the weakened administration risks being slowly strangled as ministries cease to function and the civil service grinds to a halt.

There is speculation in Beirut that the demonstrations could be coupled with a campaign of civil disobedience in which key workers will put a further squeeze on the government by refusing to turn up for work.

But government supporters are determined to resist what they see as blackmail by Hezbollah. “No matter how long they stay in the street this will not bring down the government,” said Saad Hariri, a Sunni Muslim leader, who backs Siniora.

Hezbollah, which gained support from the summer war with Israel, is demanding more ministers in the cabinet and a veto over legislation. Six ministers allied to Hezbollah quit last month and under Lebanon’s constitution, the death or resignation of another two would automatically cause it to fall.

“Lebanon’s independence is threatened and its democratic system is in danger,” Siniora said last week.

He received strong backing from America, which believes the protests are being organised at the behest of Hezbollah’s main backers, Iran and Syria. The US ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, called the Hezbollah demonstration “part of the Iran-Syria inspired coup”.

Syria was forced to withdraw its troops from the Lebanon last year after massive street protests when Rafik Hariri, the former Lebanese prime minister, was assassinated. Analysts suspect that Syria wishes to overthrow Siniora’s government to block further investigations into the killing as the inquiries lead closer to its own leadership.

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