Organizers of the "You stink" protests that have captivated the Lebanese capital postponed demonstrations set for yesterday evening after a night of violent clashes with police during which dozens of protesters and police officers were wounded. Protesters urging the Lebanese government to resign over a trash crisis said yesterday the decision did not mean their protests were over. The Lebanese army took up positions in and around downtown Beirut, scene of the protests, stationing armored personnel carriers on street corners. The protests, sparked by a garbage-collection crisis that has left trash piled in the streets for weeks, have grown into a grassroots movement demanding the resignation of the entire government and an end to the country's dysfunctional sectarian system.
According to Lebanese Red Cross, a protester, Rida Taleb, has been killed during anti-corruption demonstrations in Beirut, since mass demonstrations began in the Lebanese capital on Saturday. Red Cross Lebanon said that 49 protesters and police officers were injured in Sunday's protests in the Lebanese capital. Some of those injured had suffered smoke inhalation, and at least 40 were hospitalized, Lebanese Red Cross said. On Saturday, at least 16 were injured during clashes with police, according to a Red Cross official, while the Internal Security Forces said more than 35 of its members were also hurt. Sunday's protest was larger than the previous day's, with some local television stations saying about 20,000 people participated. Joseph Moussalem, spokesman for the Lebanese Security Forces, said that 35 Lebanese policemen had been injured, one of them critically, by rocks and firecrackers hurled by protesters.
Many demonstrators held Interior Minister Nihad al-Machnouk and Prime Minister Tammam Salam responsible for what they described as "suppressing" the protests. Thousands of demonstrators took part in the protests, including a number of Lebanese artists and media personalities. Machnouk also pledged to resolve the trash crisis at next week's cabinet meeting.
An online group calling itself "You Stink!" and other civil society groups organized the rallies, calling on Lebanese to join them in a revolt against the corrupt system. The capital's ongoing sanitation crisis recently entered its second month in the absence of any concrete solutions on the part of government officials.
Lebanon has a sectarian power-sharing system that ensures equal representation between the country's main religious sects. That often means complete paralysis. The government has been particularly poor since the eruption of the war in neighboring Syria. That conflict has exacerbated Lebanon's political divisions, often along sectarian lines that reflect the Syrian conflict. The presidency has been vacant for more than a year, and the parliament elected in 2009 has extended its own term and postponed elections until 2017 on the grounds of instability.
