Police fire tear gas at protesters in Beirut for second day
Source: AP
BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanese riot police fired tear gas and water cannons for the second consecutive day in downtown Beirut Sunday as they battled protesters with batons and stones — a marked escalation of mass demonstrations against an ongoing trash crisis.
The violence came hours after Prime Minister Tammam Salam hinted he might step down following violent protests Saturday that injured more than 100 people. The violence threatened to plunge Lebanon in new instability and political turmoil, adding to the greater Mideast's upheaval.
The demonstrations, the largest in years to shake tiny Lebanon, seek to upend what protesters see as a corrupt and dysfunctional political system that has no functional Cabinet or parliament, nor a president for more than a year.
Sunday's clashes broke out shortly before sunset when angry protesters tried to break through barbed wire leading to the government's headquarters. Police beat back protesters with clubs and water cannons, occasionally hurling stones at protesters who threw rocks and water bottles.
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Lebanese activists shout anti-government slogans as they are sprayed by riot police using water cannons during a protest against the ongoing trash crisis, in downtown Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Aug. 23, 2015. Lebanese riot police are spraying thousands of protesters with water cannons in downtown Beirut, the second day of mass demonstrations against an ongoing trash crisis becoming violence. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/e209ac2bb98541d58f07d8c59ea68409/lebanese-pm-hints-he-might-resign-after-protests
