70 injured when protesters clash with police in Beirut over garbage-collection

During the country’s 15-year civil war the city was divided between east and west by a snaking line of checkpoints.

Yesterday, “You Stink” organiser Marwan Maalouf said the campaign was now fighting for three causes: a resolution to the trash crisis, freedom of expression and police accountability.

Some supporters accused the violent protesters of being infiltrators sent by political parties to ruin the movement. Foreign Minister Gibran Bassil said he was pulling out because of a “theater” being performed with regards to the trash issue.

That further riled the protesters.

A group of men broke into a building and one emerged holding a toilet which he smashed, providing more ammunition for the protesters to throw.

Should Salam resign, a caretaker government would stay on.

Salam’s threat to resign has fuelled concern of a bigger crisis.

The “You Stink” motion additionally says it won’t again down.

Despite Salam’s hint about resignation, it is highly unlikely to happen as the move could create a total political vacuum and eventually plunge Lebanon into chaos. “All of them – warlords, legislators and ministers – are working for their own interest and not those of the people”, said Nada Qadoura, a retired woman who took part in Sunday’s protest along with two of her friends.

Meanwhile, the political paralysis continues. Many demonstrators called for ending the sectarian system that apportions power in the country and for getting rid of the political elite that has dominated the system for generations.

So the Lebanese presidency is reserved for a Maronite Christian, the prime minister must be a Sunni Muslim, and the speaker of parliament has to be a Shia Muslim. The current parliament speaker, Nabih Berri, has been in his post for 23 years.

What started as a cry of disgust against an already impotent and paralysed government and political class unable to provide basic services to its citizens – that of garbage collection – ended up in a massive 10,000-strong demonstration in and around Downtown Beirut on Saturday.

Violent police response to the protests has fueled public anger, and the campaign has struck a chord among many Lebanese.

Pushed back from the prime minister’s office to Martyrs’ Square, some protesters rioted, destroying traffic lights, setting fire to barricades and a construction site and tearing down street signs.

Within hours, the wall was filled with anti-government graffiti.

“Shabiha!” the protesters would shout, an Arabic term often used to refer to thugs. “Remove it or not, we don’t care”.

“The crisis only exists in Lebanon, and the reason is that there is a crisis of splitting shares and the presence of greed and rottenness inside state institutions”, he said.

The Red Cross said it took at least 59 injured people to local hospitals on Sunday night, and treated another 343 people at the scene for light wounds. When the protesters got closer to the government headquarters, police fired tear gas, forcing thousands to flee.