Lebanese protest as trash piles up in Beirut

The rubbish crisis began in mid-July when residents took it upon themselves to shut down a landfill that had been overflowing for years, leading municipalities to find ad hoc spots to dump rubbish.

Protesters hurled rocks and firecrackers at police.

Protesters ripped down advertisements for luxury apartment blocks and set them on fire. They rail against a laundry list of problems, from corruption to the sectarian former warlords who dominate politics and the government’s failure to provide basic services such as electricity and water.

“They’re living large while we’re paying the price”, Mr Bouchebel said of politicians and their beneficiaries.

“In this regard, we have worked and will work on protecting protesters… but we are also compelled to protect public institutions at all times and are within the law to prevent infiltrators from assaulting legislative and executive institutions and private property”.

The demonstrators were calling on the government to step down for mishandling a dispute over uncollected garbage in the streets for weeks, extending an online campaign named “You Stink” by activists.

How bad are the casualties?

Sporadic gunfire could be heard in the capital’s commercial district into the night Sunday as police fired in the air to disperse those who remained.

Officials said 43 protesters were hospitalised while 30 members of the security forces were also injured.

On Sunday, several masked protesters provocatively attempted to remove barbed wire separating demonstrators from security forces following Salam’s speech at the Grand Serail. He acknowledged that a civilian had been critically injured, although the circumstances were unclear.

What is the government’s reaction?

Meanwhile, in southern Lebanon, sporadic clashes continued in the Palestinian refugee camp of Ein el-Hilweh near the southern port city of Sidon between Islamists and the mainstream Fatah movement.

In a press conference, Prime Minister Tammam Salam said he stood “with the people and with the citizens”.

Replacing the president requires a deal many say can only be brokered by Iran and Saudi Arabia.

The premier warned that if a cabinet meeting, which is expected to take place later this week, failed to resolve the matter, the indebted Lebanese government would be at risk of collapsing. But that’s far from a certainty.

“This Cabinet is acting as a guard until a president is elected”, he told the “Voice of Lebanon’ radio”. And the parliament can’t agree on one.

Social Affairs Minister Rashid Derbas said on Monday that “all the political sides are attempting to hijack the peaceful demonstration”, pointing that PM Tammam Salam was always positive with FPM ministers.

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.

Salam’s threat to resign has fuelled concern of a bigger crisis. But if the Cabinet gets dismantled, there’s no clear game plan.

“This protest has truly unified everybody”, she said. The small country is made up of various religious and ethnic groups that have a testy relationship with each other. But when it comes to Lebanon, none of them wants to see it collapse.

Regional threats, like the war in neighboring Syria and the growing influence of Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL), are adding fuel to the instability in Lebanon.