Activists of the 'You Stink' Campaign Released on Bail

Four anti-trash demonstrators, who were held earlier this week over the interception of the car of Social Affairs Minister Rashid Derbas, were released on Friday on a LL200,000 bail each, the state-run National News Agency reported.

Earlier during the day, the driver of Minister Derbas withdrew the lawsuit that he had filed against al-Mallah.

Beirut Judge Diaa Msheimesh issued the release order.

The activists – Tareq Mallah, Bilal Allaw, F.B.Z and Ihab Yazbek – were arrested by the Internal Security Forces Intelligence Branch after Derbas filed a lawsuit accusing Mallah and others of “insulting” him and attacking his car during a protest in Beirut's Spears Street.

Mallah and his comrades belong to the “You Stink” anti-trash campaign, which on Tuesday blocked several roads in Beirut to protest the authorities' failure to find a permanent solution to the waste crisis.

Tuesday's protests by the civil society activists at Riad al-Solh square near the Grand Serail were not the first. The same demonstrators held a sit-in in downtown Beirut over the weekend to protest the mountains of garbage that had piled up in the capital and its suburbs.

Trash collection resumed only Monday evening after an almost week-long crisis that saw the streets of the capital flowing with garbage.

The waste management ministerial committee headed by Prime Minister Tammam Salam managed to agree on a preliminary solution to the garbage crisis.

D.A.

G.K.