BEIRUT TRASH PROTESTS

During a couple of weeks at the end of summer, people from all over Lebanon came out on the streets to tell the country’s political class “You stink”, referring to the yet unresolved garbage crisis that rose to the surface in July, when the main dump outside Beirut was closed. The landfill, nearby the coastal town Naameh, was originally opened in the 1990s as a temporary solution, and had reached many times its capacity.

The inability of Lebanon’s politicians to find a solution for taking care of Beirut’s waste spurred a country-wide movement mobilising against corruption and political mismanagement.