Lebanon protesters escalate campaign

Lebanon’s divided government appears powerless to address a growing protest campaign that began over a trash crisis and escalated with activists occupying the environment ministry.

On Tuesday night, police forcibly evicted several dozen protesters who had occupied part of the ministry in a surprise bid to force the minister’s resignation.

The protest was an escalation of the “You Stink” campaign, which started over a rubbish collection crisis but has become a movement targeting Lebanon’s stagnant and corrupt political class.

In a sign of the government’s ongoing impotence, the parliament on Wednesday failed for the 28th time to elect a new president.

The post has been empty since May 2014, but the legislature is so politically divided that every attempt to elect a replacement has failed.

The presidential void is just one example of the government paralysis that has increasingly been the target of the “You Stink” campaign.

Its demands have expanded beyond a solution to the waste crisis to calls for the environment minister’s resignation, new parliamentary elections and accountability for violence against protesters.

On Wednesday, “You Stink” activist Assaad Thebian said the campaign would continue after the environment ministry sit-in, which lasted eight hours before being broken up by police.

“It seems that the government is persisting in ignoring the demands of the Lebanese people,” he said.

“The leaders are in a state of political bankruptcy, incapable of taking any decision.”

— AFP