Lebanese Protesters Defiant as Sit-in Quashed

At least seven people were injured in the scuffles that erupted between riot police and protesters Tuesday night and taken to hospitals, while 60 others were treated on the spot, George Kettani, head of the Lebanese Red Cross, told The Daily Star.

Despite a statement by Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk calling on security forces not to use force in evicting protesters staging a sit-in inside the Environment Ministry, activists said they were beaten and forced to leave.

Young men and women from the You Stink group sat cross-legged on the floor, clapping and shouting “out, out, out,” as they gathered outside Environment Minister Mohammad Machnouk’s office on the eighth floor of the Azarieh building around 1 pm.

Machnouk, who staunchly rejected the protesters’ demands to resign, was holed up in his office for long hours before he eventually left the Environment Ministry’s building from a back door at around 10 pm.

“We were forced to leave, we were beaten,” activist Imad Bazzi from the You Stink group told Al-Jadeed TV. “No one left willingly. They were lying to us. Once they tell us that our friends left and then we discovered that other people were still detained,” he added.

“They humiliated us and hit us,” another activist said. “We were in a place that we had the right to protest in ... We were hit a lot.”

The interior minister tweeted that if information that protesters were beaten by riot police was true, those responsible would be punished.

At 5:45 pm, Beirut’s police chief Brig. Gen. Mohammad Ayyoubi asked all media to leave the building as riot police prepared to clear the floor where protesters continued their sit-in.

After a large number of reporters refused to leave, police started cutting the live transmission cables used by the different camera crews. Media stations were still able to keep broadcasting by using Skype through their smartphones.

An hour later, police were seen carrying protesters out of the building, some of them with bruise marks and others handcuffed, witnesses said.

“They first turned off the electricity, then locked all the bathrooms. When riot police arrived and the media was kicked out, they started beating us with batons,” activist Mohammad Mogharbel told The Daily Star.

All protesters were removed from the building by 9:30 pm, after which local media reported that Machnouk left his office.

Following initial reports that the You Stink group urged people to rally in nearby Riad al-Solh Square at 6 pm to demand Machnouk’s immediate resignation, movement spokesperson Joey Ayoub later on his Facebook page called for protesters to gather in front of the Environment Ministry.

At least 1,000 protesters, flanked by riot police, remain camped out at various entrances to the complex, chanting for the resignation of the environment minister.

Although the large majority of the protesters were peaceful, several small skirmishes broke out between demonstrators and police.

Police later attempted to disperse the crowd around the Martyrs’ Square side of the ministry building. Several loud bangs were also heard, but it was unclear whether they originated from objects employed by security forces or demonstrators.

The head of Lebanon’s Green Party Nada Zarour later entered the floor that the protesters were occupying with a security escort. She was attempting to negotiate with the demonstrators but they refused to speak with her and called on her to leave.

You Stink had threatened to escalate its protests against the government after it failed to meet any of its four demands during a 72-hour ultimatum set last Saturday.