Dozens injured as ‘You Stink’ protesters in Beirut clash with police

Salam also indicated that it Thursday’s cabinet meeting fails to deliver on the current crisis, “then there is no need for the council of ministers”.

Lebanese riot police fire tear gas at protesters during clashes on August 23, 2015 in the capital, Beirut, following a demonstration against the country’s trash crisis.

But the “You Stink” spokesperson Ali Bazzi called on protesters to return to Riad al-Solh Square on Monday for a fresh protest.

“In the beginning, this was a battle over the trash issue…”

He was not sure if the rioters were politically motivated, but said some seemed to be from the slums, where opportunities are few and anger at the state has been building up for generations.

On Monday afternoon, Lebanon’s environment minister Mohammad Machnouk announced the names of six companies that had won bids to Lebanon’s waste management, describing the development as a “happy ending”.

One of the most visible and odiferous manifestations of this breakdown in governance is the mounds of uncollected garbage that form little mountains of trash in Beirut and other cities.

Experts said the protests had become a rare outlet for Lebanese frustrated by an out-of-touch political elite and an atmosphere of impunity. “Target all the politicians”.

Many years of placing up with unsafe governance and corrupt politicians exploded directly.

Lebanese Prime Minister Tammam Salam has threatened to step down from power amid violent clashes between police and demonstrators protesting over the country’s failure to collect garbage from the streets.

Organisers blamed unaffiliated “troublemakers” and condemned the attacks on police.

Their similarities end there, however, since Aoun is in an alliance with multipolar-oriented Hezbollah, while Geagea is closely tied to former Prime Minister and dual Lebanese-Saudi billionaire powerbroker Saad Hariri.

“This movement has succeeded in reawakening the Lebanese, and we will not let them make us go to sleep again”, said Marwan Maarouf, a group representative.

The cabinet has been unable to make decisions for months because of deadlock between two main political blocs. Parliament has extended its own term twice and has not convened because lawmakers differ on whether they can continue working before voting for a president. However such a transfer dangers plunging the nation into a fair larger energy vacuum and instability, additional straining a rustic’s fragile monetary system already inundated with Syrian conflict refugees.

Sunday’s protest was larger than the previous day’s, with some local television stations saying about 20,000 people participated. No one wants the incompetence of governments like Lebanon’s (or Yemen’s or Syria’s) to be replaced by chaos, anarchy, and strife.

Hezbollah in a statement slammed the “mounting and worsening corruption” it said the garbage crisis reflected.

She said the demonstrators would be better off demanding a proper solution to the trash crisis.

“Within these limits, these young people could… put new pressure on the government and the political class”.

Should it collapse, Salam’s government would stay on in the caretaker capacity.