At least 15 people were injured on Saturday in clashes with Lebanese security forces in downtown Beirut for the government’s failure to solve the garbage crisis.
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Salam said if next Thursday’s Cabinet meeting is not productive, “then there is no need for the council of ministers”.
Police fired tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannons after many tried to break through a defense cordon in what is a “security zone” close to the Grand Serail [Government House] that also happens to abut Beirut’s financial district.
Lebanese security forces and anti-government protesters clashed on Sunday for a second straight day in the capital Beirut as the standoff over uncollected garbage escalated. The group called for a demonstration at 6 p.m. (1500 gmt) in front of the government headquarters.
Protest organizers said they pulled their supporters out of the area after men they described as political thugs began fighting with police, trying to tear down a barbed wire fence separating the crowds from the Lebanese government building.
The trash crisis began last month when the main refuse tip for Beirut was closed, with no ready alternative.
Some shots also rang out in central Beirut, near the prime minister’s office, where thousands of people had rallied peacefully during the day before the violence broke out. At least 35 people, both police officers and protesters, were injured in the clashes.
Some residents have resorted to burning trash on the streets, sending toxic fumes over the city’s skyline and into homes.
The demonstrations, the largest in years, railed against the corruption and dysfunction that has brought about Lebanon’s current political crisis.
Human Rights Watch and Lebanese Prime Minister Tammam Salam condemned the reaction as an “excessive use of force”, and the state prosecutor has ordered an investigation into the incident.
Salam, in a televised address, warned that Lebanon was headed towards collapse and that a bigger problem than the trash crisis was the country’s “political garbage”.
Joey Ayoub, who sits on You Stink’s organising committee, said the movement’s most pressing demand now was for security forces to be held accountable.
He said his movement had moved the protest from Riad al-Solh Square, where the clashes occurred, to nearby Martyrs Square “to show that we are not involved in this violence”. The lack of reliable basic services in the country, including water, electricity, and garbage pickup, has a long history that was exacerbated by the civil war, the subsequent political settlements, and periodic Israeli military strikes.
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Protesting in the heart of Lebanon’s capital – a clean, upscale enclave where few Lebanese can afford to dine or shop – was symbolic for many of those gathered.
