Chouf residents protest waste shipments from Beirut
The Daily Star
February 24, 2007
By Maher Zeineddine
Daily Star correspondent
CHOUF: Chouf residents and officials staged a rally on Friday to protest waste shipments to the region from Beirut, vowing not to accommodate the unwanted garbage and to escalate their campaign until the transfers stop. "We refuse to see our region transformed into a waste dump," said Ktar Matta Mayor Mohammad Najib Hassan at a rally in Sibline, where garbage from the Normandy landfill in Beirut is being dumped.
Hassan called on officials and humanitarian institutions to find another solution for the overflow of garbage than the dumping of the excess on a politically "weak place."
"Truckloads of garbage are still being transported to Sibline despite the Chouf municipalities' objection," he told a crowd that included the mayors of Barja and Baasir.
Hassan said that politicians were responsible for transporting "such scraps to Iqlim al-Kharroub" but that the protest was not specifically addressed to one leader.
"This issue should not be politicized ... it should preserve its environmental aspect,"
he said.
Barja Mayor Salam Saad foresaw a deterioration in the situation if no action is taken. "Today's move is a sample of a bigger one if garbage continues to be deposited in our region," he said. "We urge all truck drivers who are thinking of transporting garbage to our region to shoulder responsibility.
"This is not a threat ... but the street is disciplined today; it might not be tomorrow."
At one point protesters tried to shut the main road to town, but the Lebanese Army prevented them from doing so. The army and Internal Security Forces also broke up a minor clash between two groups of youths.
The Lebanese Environmental Party issued a statement on Friday in support of Iqlim al-Kharroub residents.
"Dumping garbage randomly will create social and environmental problems in the future," the party said. "Transporting garbage from one region to another contributes to polluting air, soil and groundwater."
The party slammed the Environment Ministry for not finding solutions to the waste issue.
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