BEIRUT: Hundreds of people have kept up protests in Beirut as a crisis over garbage collection worsens with fresh piles of trash accumulating in streets of the capital.

Beirut has been jolted by daily protests for the past week, including two massive demonstrations that turned violent over the weekend.

The protests were sparked by the trash crisis but now target the country’s entire political class and dysfunctional sectarian-based political system.

Organisers of the main protest movement, known as “You Stink,” are calling on all Lebanese to take part in a huge rally planned for Saturday. On Wednesday, a few hundred people protested in downtown Beirut.

The crisis began last month after the government closed down Beirut’s main landfill without providing an alternative for the capital and its suburbs.

Published in Dawn, August 27th, 2015

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