Conflict Incident Report

Fresh violence erupted between security forces and protesters in Downtown Beirut Tuesday night as the Free Patriotic Movement’s ministers and their allies withdrew from a Cabinet session over partnership, throwing the government into further disarray. The Cabinet rejected during an extraordinary session earlier in the day the results of the call for tenders that Environment Minister Mohammad Machnouk had announced Monday to manage Lebanon’s waste, saying the prices were too high, but it approved $100 million of investments in Akkar as an incentive to establish a large garbage dump in the northern district. Security forces scuffled with protesters in Downtown Beirut and arrested a number of them as hundreds of activists continued their sit-in in Riad al-Solh Square to denounce the government’s policies and its failure to resolve the trash crisis, demanding its resignation. Riot police used batons to beat back protesters who crossed a barbed wire barrier near the Grand Serail hours after authorities, on Prime Minister Tammam Salam’s orders, removed a giant concrete blast wall that had been erected a day earlier at the same location. The Lebanese Red Cross said it transported at least seven injured people to hospitals. Protesters smashed some shop fronts on Banks Street and broke advertisement billboards in Riad al-Solh Square, the National News Agency reported. Dozens of police pushed back protesters and chased them away from surrounding streets. One man was bleeding from his head after being struck with a police baton, and a woman was wailing after she said police struck her arm.