Demonstrators first took to the streets in July, protesting the government paralysis over the accumulation of waste on the streets and inability to reach a solution after Beirut’s main landfill was closed down.
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A second day of mass anti-government demonstrations in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, turned violent on Sunday, with riot police spraying thousands of protesters with a water cannon and pelting them with stones. Dozens of protesters were injured, some displaying wounds that appeared to be inflicted by rubber bullets.
Lebanese security officials said the clashes killed three people and wounded 20.
The government has been unable to find an alternative system for waste management as a result of government paralysis. Some videos uploaded on social media showed protesters hurling eggs, trash bags, and bottles over the barbed wire fencing.
What began as a peaceful march deteriorated into violence when security forces tried to push back protesters by firing into the air.
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.
He has warned that the country faces a political crisis and that there is no money to pay the salaries of a large number of public sector employees.
The chaos continued into the night as police battled masked youths who set up barricades in Beirut’s downtown and near the blue-domed Mohammad al-Amin Mosque in Martyrs’ Square. Many Lebanese were infuriated by the move, which has sharpened divisions in parliament and, Hezbollah opponents say, dragged the country into the Syrian conflict.
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.
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.
Earlier, Red Cross spokesman Iyad Munzer said at least one person was in a critical condition, and that ambulances were responding to reports of more injured.
“They’re living large while we’re paying the price”, Mr Bouchebel said of politicians and their beneficiaries.
“The trash is the straw that broke the camel’s back, but the story is much bigger than this straw”.
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What stood out on Saturday were the slogans that called for the fall of the regime-since Lebanon was without a president, this meant the Prime Minister and his cabinet-and for the resignation of Mohammad Mashnouq, the Minister of Environment.
