You Stink began holding protests last month over the government’s failure to find a sustainable and environmentally-friendly way to dispose of Beirut’s waste after Lebanon’s largest landfill was closed on July 17.
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Speaking on Sunday, Lebanese Prime Minister Tammaam Salam threatened to resign, chastising the police for their heavy-handed response and government ministers for their inability to fix the many problems facing Lebanon. “It’s important to watch these events closely over the next couple of days”.
The protesters set a police motorcycle ablaze.
The list is a long one: Lebanon has been without a president for more than a year, electricity is intermittent at best, corruption is rife, the country is hosting more than a million refugees and militants from Syria threaten the country’s eastern border.
“Within these limits, these young people could… put new pressure on the government and the political class”.
The demonstrations have now evolved into an outlet for deep-rooted, broad-based frustration over political stagnation, corruption and crumbling infrastructure.
The renewed violence came hours after Salam signaled that he might be ready to resign following protests on Saturday in which more than 100 people were injured.
You Stink wrote on its Facebook page that its supporters would gather at Riad al-Solh at 7:30 for a candlelight vigil, but the gathering did not resemble the massive protests that descended into violence over the weekend in which they demanded the government’s resignation.
Whichever direction the demonstrations go, it is clear that two unprecedented political developments are taking place.
However, continued inattention to the growing problem of rubbish dump sites tested people’s patience, and they began to openly link it to Lebanon’s bigger political picture.
The second significant development was the nature of the demonstrators’ demands.
The Lebanese Communist Party condemned the “barbaric practices” of the police and called on the people to keep protesting in the city “in order to overthrow this corrupt regime in defence of the right to a decent life”. That’s a phrase used by protesters during Arab Spring uprisings that toppled governments across the region.
She said the demonstrators would be better off demanding a proper solution to the trash crisis.
The list, announced by Environment Minister Mohammed Mashnuq, quickly drew fire from activists who said the companies were tied to a range of influential political figures and would charge exorbitant prices.
As such, Lebanon’s ruling political class considered the organisers of the “You Stink” campaign as an existential threat.
The change in tone on the street is stunning.
This is while Lebanon has been without a president since May 2014, when former President Michel Sleiman left office at the end of his tenure.
The sanctity of the country’s inconsiderate sectarian system was shattered in central Beirut this weekend.
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Mohamed Abu Basha, an economist at Cairo-based investment bank EFG-Hermes, said politicians might reach a compromise to resolve the country’s immediate economic crisis, “which has been the equation governing the country for a few years now”.
