Anti-government protesters, police clash in Beirut

Fresh clashes have erupted between police and demonstrators in Lebanon as thousands of people took to the streets in the capital, Beirut, to protest against alleged government corruption and its failure to remove garbage from the city.

Scuffles broke out as activists and supporters of the so-called “You Stink” movement, which emerged earlier this year in protest at the government’s failure to collect garbage from the streets of Beirut, tried to march on parliament late on Sunday.

The protesters chanted slogans against corruption in state institutions and called for a sustainable solution to the country’s two-month-old garbage crisis.

At least one protester and a police officer were reportedly injured in the clashes. Police say they managed to secure the area and quell the unrest.

“You Stink” was launched after the Environment Ministry closed its largest Naameh landfill site on July 17 because it had been filled up, without offering an alternative.

Garbage from the city used to be disposed at the Naameh landfill in the mountainous region southeast of the capital. Since its closure, garbage collectors have stopped taking the garbage away, saying they have no place to dispose it.

The movement has since evolved into wider protests against alleged corruption in the government and among high-level officials.