Prime Minister Tammam Salam has called for an extraordinary Cabinet session at 10 a.m. Tuesday to look into at the “disastrous waste situation” as stated in the text of the invitation, and to take the appropriate decisions on tenders related to the treatment of solid household wastes. Environment Minister Mohammad Machnouk moved up from Tuesday to Monday the unsealing of the bids upon Salam’s request following the weekend’s demonstrations called for by civil society “You Stink” group.

Cabinet will be tasked Tuesday with studying the report put forth by Machnouk on the results of the bidding and the breakdown of the prices that have been presented.

The practice has been that the company with the lowest prices wins the bid.

But sources involved in the bidding process said expert assessment of the files presented by the competing companies revealed that some corporations proposed prices that were lower than those of Lavajet -Batco, the consortium that won the Beirut tender.

Another problematic issue, the sources said, was the fact that the environment minister did not divulge the locations of the landfills where each company would be dumping the waste it collects for fear of negative reactions from political parties, municipalities and civil society groups.

Machnouk has left it to Cabinet to announce the locations of the landfills.

Finance Minister Ali Hasan Khalil admitted that the landfill problem persists and that it needs to be resolved by the government.

But the biggest problem is securing a landfill where trash could be temporarily gathered for the next six to eight months until the companies that won the bids become fully operational.

Machnouk expressed hope that the shuttered Naameh landfill would temporarily open its doors again until the firms are ready to work on the ground.

However, political problems also persist and the differences of opinion between the Free Patriotic Movement and Hezbollah and the rest of the government have yet to be resolved.

FPM sources said the call for the extraordinary session was meant to “embarrass us in order to get us out.”

The sources from the movement added that the FPM ministers would attend the Cabinet session, and would raise the matter of decrees issued after they garnered the signatures of 18 ministers.

The FPM argues that the decrees infringe on the powers of the president and are related to securing funds for incumbent waste collection companies Sukleen and Lavajet.

FPM leader Michel Aoun Monday briefed over the phone Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai and Christian leaders – Samir Geagea of the Lebanese Forces, Amine Gemayel of the Kataeb Party and Suleiman Frangieh of the Marada Movement – on the details of the problematic decrees, and the position his ministers would espouse in Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting.

The sources confirmed that the FPM ministers Tuesday would not allow Cabinet to use the waste crisis and the subsequent protests and riots as an excuse to dodge fundamental principles that target true partnership.

Ministerial sources close to Salam said that the meeting would be a productive session that obeys the Lebanese Constitution and the law.

The sources added that there would be no room for any component to disrupt the track of the session, as the prime minister refuses to be turned into a false witness when it comes to the interests of the people, and he would not allow the Cabinet to remain a platform for sterile political discussions.

For Salam, the sources said, the job of the government is to facilitate the lives of citizens rather than engage in futile debates.

BEIRUT: Hundreds of activists gathered in Beirut Downtown Monday night to protest the installation of blast walls outside the Grand Serail and the government’s announcement of the names of companies that won the tenders to manage waste across Lebanon.

A day after weekend clashes between protesters and security forces left more than 400 people wounded in Downtown Beirut, the “You Stink” group lit candles in Riad al-Solh Square in a show of sympathy with the wounded, particularly with Rida Taleb, a protester who is still in a critical condition in hospital after sustaining a head injury during Sunday’s confrontation.

Army Commander Gen. Jean Kahwagi vowed to crack down on “infiltrators” who seek to divert peaceful protests from their legitimate demands.

“The Army will not be lenient with troublemakers or infiltrators among the demonstrators who seek to divert peaceful demonstrations from their course and their legitimate demands with the aim of undermining the prestige of security forces as a prelude to stirring up strife and chaos in the country,” Kahwagi said during a meeting with officers and soldiers of a military contingent in Beirut.

Underlining the need to protect peaceful demonstrations, he said the Army should be “fully ready to maintain stability in Beirut, protect constitutional institutions and prevent attacks on the lives of citizens and their properties under any circumstances or slogan.”

To tighten security around the Grand Serail, security forces erected massive concrete barriers in Riad al-Solh Square after a weekend of violent protests demanding the government’s resignation. The wall was erected in the same area where police and protesters faced off Saturday and Sunday, with some demonstrators trying to tear down a barbwire barrier to reach the Grand Serail.

Activists from the You Stink group insisted that those who tried to breach the barrier were not affiliated with its movement, accusing political parties of sending hooligans to provoke violence with security forces.

The concrete barriers were quickly filled with protesters’ graffiti, some of which read: “The wall of disgrace,” and “No to isolationism or walls of racism. Here is Lebanon, not occupied Palestine,” a reference to the wall built by Israel to separate it from the occupied West Bank.

“We are all here because we are unemployed. I make $550 a month my bills are $600. Why wouldn’t I be here?” said Ali Abed al-Sater, one of the protesters in Riad al-Solh Square. “All this chanting and singing won’t do us any good. We need proper action.”

The government Monday scrambled to defuse a garbage crisis that ignited two days of fierce street clashes at the weekend and threatened to plunge the country into total chaos by announcing the names of companies that won the bidding to manage trash in Lebanon.

Encouraged by the announcement made by Environment Minister Mohammad Machnouk, Prime Minister Tammam Salam called for an extraordinary Cabinet session for Tuesday to approve the winning companies and contain the reverberations of the fierce clashes between the protesters and security forces.

But the government’s move was quickly dismissed by the You Stink group as “illegitimate,” saying the results of the bidding announced by Machnouk were an attempt “to steal public funds.” The group, which postponed anti-government demonstrations originally set for Monday night, called for a new protest for Saturday to demand sustainable solutions to the trash crisis.

The Lebanese Red Cross released a “final report” on Twitter earlier Monday that said 343 cases were treated at the scene in LRC field hospitals, while 59 others were taken to local hospitals. Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk said 99 members of Internal Security Forces and 61 protesters were wounded during Sunday’s clashes.

He took a defiant stance on the protesters’ demands for holding parliamentary elections before the election of a president.

“There will be no parliamentary elections before the election of a president. No one must sell the people illusions and dreams. This matter will not happen,” Machnouk told reporters after meeting Salam at the Grand Serail.

Machnouk said the protesters would not be allowed to enter the Grand Serail or Parliament by force. “We will not allow either peaceful demonstrators or attackers to enter the premises of the government Serail or Parliament,” he said.

The minister added that a full investigation, documented with voice, pictures and testimonies of soldiers and civilians, was underway to pinpoint responsibilities for the weekend clashes. He said the outcome of the investigation would be ready within 72 hours and would be released to media outlets. Machnouk accused troublemakers affiliated with certain political parties of provoking the clashes with security forces.

The ISF said in a statement police arrested 32 “rioters” after the clashes with anti-government protesters.

What began as a peaceful protest organized by the You Stink group Saturday erupted into violence in Riad al-Solh and nearby Martyrs’ Square after riot police began using water cannons, tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse protesters trying to reach Nijmeh Square, where Parliament is located.

Protesters, angered by the police response, turned out in force again Sunday, in a largely peaceful protest that moved itself to Martyrs’ Square after some elements within the crowd began provoking a police response. A smaller group, denounced by You Stink, remained in Riad al-Solh Sunday evening, hurling stones at policemen, setting fires and damaging property.

The scene near Riad al-Solh, which bore the brunt of the weekend violence, looked like a battlefield Monday morning, with smashed storefronts, broken glass littering the streets and burned-down structures.

Lebanese soldiers, who restored calm around midnight after they dispersed the rioters, were visible Monday morning as they deployed at the entrances to Riad al-Solh. Twisted metal from a burnt-out motorcycle lay on the street where soldiers stood guard.

There was significant damage to shops as well as other private and public property. An initial police report said rioters destroyed or set ablaze at least 40 shops, smashed several car windows, damaged two police vehicles and one used by Customs, in addition to a number of surveillance cameras on the streets.

Separately, senior officials from the Future Movement and Hezbollah held a new round of talks Monday night as part of their ongoing dialogue to defuse sectarian and political tensions in the country. Monday’s was the 17th dialogue session held by the two rival factions at Speaker Nabih Berri’s Ain al-Tineh residence since last December.

Referring to the weekend clashes, the participants “stressed their keenness on freedom of expression and peaceful demonstrations in the framework of laws and rules in force.”

The two sides affirmed their “support for state institutions in protecting internal stability and preserving security, public institutions and private properties,” according to a terse statement issued after the meeting.

They also stressed that “priority should be given to dialogue and understanding among various parties to deal with crises, and the need for the state to shoulder its responsibilities in issues that concern the citizens.”

BEIRUT: “He’s got a good arm,” one of my colleagues remarked, referring to a protester far back in the crowd who had managed to throw a plastic water bottle over the front line.

In the hours leading up to the official 6 p.m. start of the You Stink protest in Riad al-Solh Square Sunday, several of my colleagues and I in the newsroom had been keeping an eye on a live broadcast of the scene. LBC conveniently offered a four-way split screen with different camera angles.

Shortly before 7:30 p.m., the police began deploying water cannons on the packed crowd, apparently in response to some protesters who were lobbing water bottles at them. Judging from the bird’s eye view on screen, the situation did not seem particularly restive.

Soon after, I walked over to the protest, located a minute away from The Daily Star office next to the abandoned cinema.

I made my way down Amir Bachir Street, the main artery of the protest, weaving through the heaving throngs of protesters, many of whom looked to be in their 20s. The roughly 300-meter street is bookended on the east by the Mohammad al-Amin Mosque and the Grand Serail on the west, where the front line of the protest was demarcated by two rows of barbed wire laid across the street, two navy blue water cannons parked behind it.

Maneuvering my way to the front line, I found a spot by one of the blue tents erected months ago by protesting families of the kidnapped servicemen. Hordes of rowdy, mostly young men filled the area. Several of them were shirtless, with a keffiyeh or other cloth tied around their mouths or necks, holding folded pieces of cardboard over their heads in seeming anticipation of reprisals from the riot police.

Thousands of people had packed Amir Bachir Street, Bank Street to the right, and a narrow street to the left, all which intersected at the front line. While most were standing peacefully, the dozens of young men at the very front repeatedly lobbed rocks, water bottles, firecrackers and other debris over the barbed wire. The sole response of water cannons was remarkably measured against the sustained provocation – particularly in light of the police brutality reported at the previous night’s protest.

By 8:30 p.m., some were stoking a bonfire with debris at the center of the front line, which would periodically be extinguished by a water cannon. The young men were also intent on breaching the barbed wire, which was holding up despite being mangled with metal barricades, traffic barriers and debris. At one point, a few men came running with a metal tray the size of a door, perhaps torn from the adjacent construction site, to throw over the barbed wire in an attempt to create a bridge.

Amid the violence, some of the young men seemed taken aback by my presence as a female foreigner, calling out in caution as I moved toward the center of the front line to snap photos, and finding a spot for me once I retreated. One kept pointing to his head and eyes, nervously urging me to shield myself. When I didn’t heed his concern, I found myself under a checkered cloth he held over our heads. Ironically, I continued to experience protective behavior throughout the night from various young men, who were inciting the original violence that would provoke a police response in kind.

On my left, a group of young men were attacking the kidnapped serviceman family’s tent closest to the Grand Serail. Around 8:40 p.m., cheers went up as they succeeded in collapsing the structure over the barbed wire and charged over into the government side. Hordes of men joined them, whipping a frenzy of objects at the water cannon. Machine guns fired into the air only momentarily deterred them.

Within 10 minutes, small orange flames began flying over the front line from the government side. I ran into one of the tents, finding myself with five others as I coughed violently from the tear gas, my face and eyes burning. Thankfully, the effects subsided in a few minutes and I ventured back out, finding the debris-riddled square nearly empty. Only a few people were standing around the front line, filming the scene with smartphones. A man by the water cannons was quickly grabbed on either side by police and dragged away.

It was far from the end, however. A few minutes later, at 9 p.m., a handful of young men began returning to the front line, throwing rocks and chanting “shabiha.” As their ranks swelled, a line of riot police suddenly materialized.

As my face began burning again, I ran back into the tent. It was clear the second round of tear gas had had a more lasting effect when I emerged a few minutes later. All protesters had been pushed back 200 meters to Blom Bank, where the mood was almost relaxed. An enterprising man had set up shop with two tin flasks of coffee balanced on a Solidere concrete traffic barrier. A few meters away, an ice cream truck was doing brisk business. But the carnivalesque atmosphere was quickly broken as volleys of tear gas blew down the street, and protesters ran to the mosque. Each time the gas subsided, a handful of young men would run back toward the Grand Serail, chanting “shabiha,” only to be quickly pushed back by plumes of tear gas.

By 10 p.m., the police had dispersed most protesters away from the mosque into nearby streets. But at least a hundred young men had simply moved into the large parking lot across from the mosque. Ripping off the curbs marking parking spaces, they smashed them against the ground to create smaller pieces to throw at the police. At 10:10 p.m., lines of riot police firing tear gas advanced on both sides of the DHL shop facing the parking lot.

The young men scurried south, many running through the abandoned cinema, where someone had started a small fire. A residual group lingered by the southeast corner of the Markazieh Building – the battle had moved right outside The Daily Star newsroom. Spotting riot police steadily advancing to the corner, I decided I would try to return my heavy laptop to the office and then go home.

Getting to the front door would mean walking toward the police, so I started walking around the building to find an alternate entrance. I got as far as the northwest corner, finding the sidewalk splattered with a large pool of blood, before I was hustled back by a handful of ISF officers baffled to see me. This meant going back to the southeast corner, and even though the young men beckoned to me that it was safe to join them, I decided to cut further south and head home.

On Bechara al-Khoury Street, I encountered around 100 men who had regrouped under the highway, breaking off debris in the Beirut Digital District construction site to fuel bonfires on the sidewalk and in the middle of the street. Some crossed over to the parallel Damascus Street to wreak further havoc, one attempting to rip down a street sign pole. I finally left at 11 p.m., turning my back on a pile of concrete rubble littered across the street.

You Stink has disassociated itself from the violence, claiming that “sectarian thugs” “infiltrated” the protest. News outlets have speculated that thugs were sent by the Amal Movement to discredit the protest. The party has rejected the claim.

The downtown area was cleared overnight by the Army, the fires put out, the streets swept clean. But traces of the protest remain if you look at a little closer.

On Tuesday, small neat piles of rocks lay around the downtown core, clearly swept together but not disposed of. Here and there, street lamps were crooked or lay broken in pieces. A charred motorcycle skeleton was tucked inside the office complex across the newsroom. Two colleagues’ cars had their windshields broken and their bodies smashed. On Amir Bachir Street, the Advanced car rental shop, whose façade I saw badly shattered, had its iron grill pulled down. Outside the Benito shoe store, a man soaped the wall to scrub off graffiti.

All debris was removed from Riad al-Solh Square and the barbed wire was gone. But new concrete barriers twice my height were erected along the front line, sealing off the Grand Serail in what some citizens have termed a “separation wall.”

The environment minister suddenly announced Tuesday the names of the winning bidders to manage waste in each governorate, but You Stink has rejected the contracts as overpriced and lacking transparency. At the time of publication Tuesday evening, protesters had regrouped in Riad al-Solh, and the group has called for a protest Saturday.

Regardless of how long You Stink manages to prevail, just as cracks in the overnight downtown cleanup are easily visible, citizens will see through band-aid solutions to waste management and the underlying government dysfunction.