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September 26th, 2015 
Awake Goy 
Michaela Whitton (AM) : Frequent clashes between police and protesters have been taking place in Beirut during what is rapidly becoming Lebanon’s largest protest movement for years.
The You Stink movement began in July after the city’s main landfill site was closed and thousands of tonnes of rotting rubbish piled up in the capital’s streets. The government’s continual failure to address the crisis resulted in a broadening of the movement as a coalition of civil groups emerged with grievances against the government.
A small country, highly educated and with a diverse religious and ethnic population, Lebanon’s divided political system is split between two main blocs. One bloc is led by Shia Hezbollah and the other by Sunni former prime minister, Saad Hariri.
Lebanon’s last elections were in 2009, and despite meeting more than two dozen times, the country has been without a president for a year. The parliament has extended its own mandate twice, citing internal disputes over a new election law as justification. Protesters have denounced parliamentary dialogue and demanded immediate elections to bring new representatives into power.
Disgusted by corruption and inequality, activists are forcing Lebanon’s ruling classes to consider the rights of ordinary people. The country with extraordinarily high living costs, youth unemployment that exceeds 35%, and 3-hour-a-day electricity cuts also faces water shortages and the slowest — yet most expensive — internet speeds in the region.
During the last few weeks, some of the demonstrations have resulted in the detention of dozens during clashes with baton-wielding riot police crowd control weapons such as tear gas, water cannons, and rubber bullets to control protesters.
As the third round of parliamentary talks kicked off on Tuesday, protesters gathered in Beirut’s Martyrs’ Square and kicked footballs with their demands written on them. Imad Bazzi, one of the leaders of the You Stinkmovement, said the protest was to symbolise that politicians inside are playing and that it is not real dialogue. “It’s an open match between the people and the authority.” Bazzi told The Daily Star.
Michaela Whitton, The AntiMedia
Source Article from http://nsnbc.me/2015/09/26/thousands-in-lebanon-take-to-the-streets-in-anti-corruption-protests/
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