Speaker Nabih Berri has called for a national salvation government in which parties from across the political spectrum would take part.

“A national salvation cabinet in which everyone takes part without exception should assume its national responsibilities in confronting fateful challenges,” Berri told As Safir daily in remarks published Tuesday.

Parliamentary consultations to pick a new prime minister is scheduled to resume Tuesday amid calls for “peaceful” street protests as outgoing PM Saad Hariri’s Al-Mustaqbal Movement accused Hizbullah of staging a coup by imposing its candidate to head the next government.

Protests in support of Hariri broke out in Sunni neighborhoods across Lebanon after the first day of parliamentary consulations showed that former PM Najib Miqati was winning the battle against Hariri.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy warned Syria that Lebanon is an independent country and said the international tribunal must complete its work “until the end.”

“Lebanon is Syria’s neighbor and France relies on this friendship to tell Syria that Lebanon is an independent country and must remain independent; and the Special Tribunal for Lebanon must complete its work until the end,” Sarkozy said in remarks published Tuesday by pan-Arab Asharq al-Awsat newspaper.

Demonstrations in support of caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri broke out Monday in Beirut as well as in and around the northern city of Tripoli and in the southern city of Sidon after parliamentary consultations showed that former PM Najib Miqati was winning the battle against Hariri.

Results at the end of Day 1 of binding parliamentary consultations – which showed 59 MPs voted for Miqati while 49 only voted for Hariri – sparked a public outcry.

Protests erupted across Lebanon on Monday as outgoing Prime Minister Saad Hariri's Mustaqbal Movement accused Hizbullah of staging a coup by imposing its candidate to head a new government.

Demonstrations were reported in various regions with a significant Sunni population where protesters burned tires and blocked major roads as they vented their anger at the likely nomination of billionaire businessman Najib Miqati to replace Hariri.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat on Monday announced the end of his Democratic Gathering parliamentary bloc, after four MPs of the 11-member gathering decided not to back his candidate for the premiership.

Following binding consultations with President Michel Suleiman at the Baabda Palace on naming a new PM, Jumblat said that his bloc will now be renamed to the National Struggle Front.

Informed opposition sources praised on Monday Hizbullah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah’s choice to nominate former Prime Minister Najib Miqati to head a new government, saying that only House Speaker Nabih Berri was informed of this plan.

They told the Central News Agency that Berri agreed to it a few hours before the consultations when the opposition’s original choice to nominate former PM Omar Karami was reconsidered.

Mustaqbal politburo member former MP Mustapha Alloush noted on Monday that a prime minister who enjoys Hizbullah and the March 8 forces’ support and who does not enjoy the March 14 forces’ approval is effectively part of a government headed by Hizbullah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.

He added to Akhbar al-Yawm news agency: “The international and local communities will consider such a government a Hizbullah Cabinet and not one headed by minister Mohammad Safafi or former PM Najib Miqati or any other figure backed by the party.”

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Iran's interim Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi agreed on Monday that the troubles of the Middle East should be solved internally by the region's countries, Syria's official news agency SANA reported.

Salehi arrived in Damascus on Sunday to discuss the Lebanese political crisis with Syrian officials.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea vowed in an open letter to Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Monday to hold onto the democratic process despite being abused by the Shiite group.

“History will not go backwards even if it faced a stumbling block at some point,” Geagea told Nasrallah in his open letter.