Beirut-South Highway Reopened, 7 People Injured in Anti-Trash Clash
Protesters reopened on Monday a vital highway that links Beirut with the South following a pledge made by Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq not to transfer waste to Iqlim al-Kharroub region without a deal with municipalities.
Earlier Monday, three demonstrators and four policemen were injured during a clash when police tried to force protesters to open the Jiyeh highway.
According to the state-run National News Agency, anti-riot police used water hoses to disperse the crowd that hurled security forces with rocks, resulting in the injury of three demonstrators.
Four other Internal Security Forces members were wounded, NNA said.
Thousands of commuters were stranded over the weekend because of the highway's closure, forcing security forces to divert traffic to internal roads.
The same scene was repeated during the morning rush hour on Monday.
But the ISF issued a communique saying the highway was reopened around noon Monday following efforts by al-Mashnouq to appease the protesters.
The waste will not be transferred and a landfill will not be established in Iqlim al-Kharroub if no such agreement was reached with municipal chiefs and the representatives of civil society, said al-Mashnouq in a statement.
He added that such a decision was reached following consultations between Prime Minister Tammam Salam, al-Mustaqbal Movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri and the head of the Progressive Socialist Party, MP Walid Jumblat.
Other roads were also blocked on Monday in Iqlim al-Kharroub and Jadra to protest the alleged transfer of the waste to their regions.
Protesters also blocked roads in several Beirut neighborhoods to pressure the authorities into finding a solution to the waste that has been piling up the streets since last week.
Beirut and Mount Lebanon plunged in a waste crisis following the July 17 closure of the Naameh landfill.
The government pledged last year that the landfill would be closed and an alternative site be found. But the date came and went with no solution found.
Initially, trash collector Sukleen stored waste at its facilities, but by July 20 they were at capacity and garbage began piling up.
G.K.
D.A.
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