Jumblat: Protests of Garbage Activists are Legal and Righteous
Progressive Socialist Party chief Walid Jumblat denounced the “barbaric” behavior that the security forces used in confronting Wednesday's protests of the You Stink campaign, assuring that the demonstrations are “righteous.”
“The protests carried out by some youth in downtown Beirut are legal and righteous, but the barbaric way used to disperse them are strongly rejected and condemned,” said Jumblat via twitter on Friday.
The MP assured that the demonstrators are free to express their opinion regarding the situation in the country and what he described as the “political trash like parties and what are named as officials.”
He concluded by saying that “most of the political parties have failed including their leaderships and void statements.”
On Wednesday, the You Stink Lebanese activists clashed with police who sprayed them with water cannons over the country's mounting trash crisis.
Garbage has been accumulating on the streets for the past month amid government paralysis and inability to agree on a solution after Beirut's main landfill was closed down.
Around 100 activists gathered outside the government building night, shouting anti-government slogans. Some tried to break the security cordon, leading to clashes with the police.
Lebanon's health minister Wael Abou Faour has said the country is on the brink of a "major health disaster" unless an immediate solution is found for its trash problem.
Political disputes have blocked the government from making any major decisions, including agreeing on alternative ways of dealing with the garbage crisis.
Source: Associated Press, Naharnet
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