Beirut  - Police and army troops started Wednesday to help lift the opposition sit-in in downtown Beirut in order to pave way for an upcoming parliament session to elect the country's new president.

Dozens of security details manned by several thousand soldiers and policemen are to pave the way for anti-Syrian lawmakers from the parliamentary majority and the opposition to move safely to the parliament building.

"The lifting of the sit-in will start in the afternoon," a Hezbollah militant in the area told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

The sit-in started on December 1, 2006 to pressure Premier Fouad Seniora to resign.

A source close to House Speaker Nabih Berri said the speaker is expected to announce that the session to elect a president will be on Sunday, instead of within the next
24 hours as was stipulated in the deal brokered in the Qatari capital Doha.

"(Berri) was keen to announce it ... but he postponed it until Sunday because some Arab leaders who will be invited to elect army general Michel Suleiman have previous engagements," the source said. (dpa)