BEIRUT — Protesters were back on the streets of Beirut on Wednesday as senior Lebanese politicians met for talks on ways to break a government deadlock that has sparked the most serious anti-government demonstrations in decades. A group of activists gathered near the parliament building, which was closed off by security forces, shouting "thieves!" as convoys of politicians drove by and pelting their cars with eggs. Tensions rose ahead of a huge anti-government protest planned for later in the night. Lebanon's latest crisis was sparked by popular anger over the heaps of trash accumulating in Beirut's streets after authorities closed the capital's main landfill on July 17 and failed to provide an alternative. The protests quickly moved beyond just the trash in the street to target an entire political class that has dominated the country and undermined its growth since the civil war ended in 1990. Lebanon has a confessional power-sharing system that often leads to incessant bickering and cronyism among the country's politicians. Thousands of people have taken part in huge demonstrations over the past two weeks. Among other things, they are demanding new parliament elections, to be followed by presidential elections. The country has been without a president for over a year, and members of parliament have illegally extended their term twice amid disputes over an election law. So far, the only response to the growing protest movement has been a promise by the parliament speaker, Nabih Berri, for high-level talks among the politicians, which began Wednesday. Berri's call for dialogue has been backed by the main political leaders, but it was unclear how such talks among the same veteran politicians being vilified by the protesters would help break the deadlock. Prime Minister Tammam Salam urged the politicians meeting Wednesday to make every effort to help end the paralysis and also called for an extraordinary Cabinet meeting later in the day to discuss the issue of garbage collection. "I hope at the Cabinet meeting today ... there will be an immediate solution to rid the country of garbage as a way to propagate trust in the country," Salam told journalists as he went into the parliament building for the meeting. — AP
