BEIRUT: Lebanese police moved to eject protesters who occupied part of the environment ministry on Tuesday, in an escalation of a campaign against the country’s trash crisis and a stagnant political class.

The forcible evacuation began some six hours after several dozen protesters entered the ministry to demand the resignation of Environment Minister Mohamed Mashnuq.

Activists from the “You Stink” campaign said police had beaten protesters, and a Red Cross official said medics treated several people for wounds sustained in scuffles with security forces.

The sit-in was an unexpected escalation of a campaign that began over a trash crisis, but has evolved into a broad-based movement against government incompetence and corruption.

As night fell, several hundred protesters demonstrated outside the ministry in support of the last activists who remained inside, occasionally skirmishing with security forces.

“We will continue! Revolution!” they chanted.

A security source confirmed that the evacuation of protesters had begun, with police removing a group gradually from the seventh floor of the building in central Beirut.

A source at the interior ministry said 14 demonstrators remained inside and were insisting police would have to handcuff and remove them by force.

The “You Stink” campaign said several activists had been beaten by police.

“(Activist) Lucien Bourjeily and a group of people participating in the sit-in were beaten and cannot be reached,” the campaign said on its Facebook page.

Deep-seated frustrations: A Red Cross official said 14 people were treated at the scene for light wounds sustained in confrontation with police.

A 15th person was treated for respiratory problems, and one activist was taken to hospital for treatment, the official said.

The “You Stink” campaign began in response to a crisis that erupted with the closure of Lebanon’s largest landfill in mid-July.

But it has evolved into an outlet for deep-seated frustrations over Lebanon’s crumbling infrastructure and stagnant, confessional political system.

Last week, the campaign set out four key demands and set a deadline, which coincided with the start of the police evacuation: Mashnuq’s resignation, new parliamentary elections, the devolution of trash collection to municipalities and accountability for violence against protesters.

On Saturday, the campaign scored its biggest turnout yet, with tens of thousands of people converging on a square in downtown Beirut for a virtually unprecedented protest.

At the end of that demonstration, the activists gave the government 72 hours to respond to their demands, though they began their sit-in in the ministry several hours before the deadline expired.

“(We began early) for the element of surprise,” activist Bourjeily said as the sit-in began.

Published in Dawn, September 2nd, 2015

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