Environmental Crisis in Lebanon Sparks Revolutionary Movement

from Bulletin Leader

Many protesters said the garbage crisis was just one of their complaints with the Lebanese government. “We are against the parties that are exploiting citizens”.

Key decisions remain in the hands of political dynasties that gained power because of enormous wealth or by commanding powerful militias during the war.

Parliament speaker Nabih Berri, who leads the Shiite Amal militia, has been in his post for 23 years.

At least 343 people were treated for injuries and 59 more were hospitalized, according to the Red Cross, after protests on 22 and 23 August organized by the local “You Stink” civil society movement.

Organizers used the demonstration to call for new parliamentary elections and the resignation of the country’s environment minister, Mohammed Machnouk, who has overseen the mismanagement of the garbage crisis. We make an effort to protect discussions from repeated comments  either by the same reader or different readers.

“We are against all of the political class. The slogan is, “All of them, means all of them”, said Bourjeily.

The campaigners are also angry that parliament has “illegally” extended its term twice and has been unable, during the course of 27 sessions, to elect a successor to President Michel Suleiman, whose term of office ended in May previous year. Deadlock has paralysed any effective work by the cabinet.

The protest follows several weeks of tension over the country’s ongoing rubbish disposal issue and the government’s failure to provide other services such as water and electricity.

‘The Lebanon we dream of’.

“Our campaign started with a few dozen members, and now we have thousands”, activist Asaad Zebian said, stressing that the protests were expected to take a “peaceful course”.

Human Rights Watch has since called on the government to investigate the excessive use of violence by security forces “and refrain from repeated violence against demonstrators”.

To try to avoid similar unrest, authorities and the campaigns have taken a number of measures.

Thousands of people continued to demonstrate on the streets of the Lebanese capital Beirut Sunday, demanding reforms of a national government they say is both corrupt and incompetent.

Troops were deployed around Martyrs Square as police manned positions inside it.

“Lebanese security officials responded to overwhelmingly peaceful protesters in downtown Beirut by shooting into the air with live rounds, firing rubber bullets, tear gas canisters, and water cannons, and in some cases hurling stones and beating protesters with batons and rifles”, said Lama Fakih, Senior Crisis Advisor at Amnesty global. “Take to the streets for yourself, for your children, for your country”. “You can even see people walking about with their toddlers”, said Atallah, who spoke to VOA early in the evening.

Many, first and foremost, expressed a sense of solidarity with a fledgling secular movement that is not affiliated with any of Lebanon’s political parties, a fairly novel phenomenon in a country defined by feudal, confessional politics.

“In the past, political leaders would organise protests”. “But today, all communities are participating because everyone is being affected” by the rubbish crisis, said prominent singer Ghassan Saliba.