BEIRUT: Riot police dispersed protesters in Downtown Beirut late Thursday evening, arresting some of their leaders hours after demonstrators took to the streets demanding an immediate solution to the ongoing trash crisis.

The protesters had vowed to stay in Martyrs’ Square until all demonstrators arrested earlier by Internal Security Forces were released.

After five hours of confrontation between police and protesters, the Internal Security Forces cleared the area, arresting several activists including leader Imad Bazzi. The ISF had previously made a number of arrests.

The demonstrators marched peacefully into Martyrs’ Square and gathered near Le Gray Hotel, where a barricade was erected by ISF to prevent their advance to Parliament in Nijmeh Square.

In a statement, the protesters reiterated calls for the dismissal of Environment Minister Mohammad Machnouk for his failure in solving the mounting garbage crisis.

They also urged the Finance Ministry to transfer money to municipalities from the Municipal Fund, arguing that authorities were refraining from providing municipalities with funds to enable them to collect trash.

They expressed their opposition to the establishment of sanitary landfills across the country as stipulated by the government’s latest scheme.

The demonstrators also urged the state to work on the release of 25 servicemen kidnapped by ISIS and the Nusra Front since last year.

The protest was called for by “You Stink” campaign and was meant to coincide with a national dialogue session initially set by Speaker Nabih Berri. The speaker called off the session Wednesday.

The faceoff was sparked by the ISF arrest of three demonstrators, including Waref Sleiman and activist Pierre Hashash, after they tried to breach the barricade erected near Le Gray Hotel. Demonstrators faced with barbed wire, slabs of concrete and steel found a gap on the left periphery of the barricades at the hotel.

They were able to enter the divide and attach a steel rope to one of the slabs. Tens of protesters grabbed the wire and started pulling. The crowd applauded as men and women heaved and pulled creating space within the barricade. Then the water cannons and tear gas came.

Demonstrators parted as water cannons hosed them down. Far from being frightened the protesters seemed amused, even applauding and cheering. After two months of almost daily popular protests the response of the riot police was welcomed.

Police made further arrests later.

“They took my Layal,” Rami bellowed as he broke rocks into smaller pieces before hurling them at police.

“Don’t make them so big, you will kill them with it,” a fellow demonstrator implored.

Visibly shivering with rage, Rami was focused on fashioning what would become his ammunition.An elderly man approached Rami and smothered him from behind. Rami pushed the man away and shouted, “Don’t you dare touch me, I’ll kill you.”

However when he turned to face the man, he recognized him and broke down in tears. “They took Layal, how can men beat a girl like that? I am going to kill them all,” he screamed between sobs.

“We will get her back, don’t worry she is safe if she isn’t here and they won’t hurt her inside,” the man said, consoling Rami and leading him away from the cement and steel barriers.

Families hastily departed, children cradled in their arms, as young men took off their shirts and collected rocks in anticipation of the battle.

“We were hot now ,we have a nice breeze because of the water,” an activist quipped. “Just think of it as rain, it was raining yesterday so it is not too different today,” another joked as protesters formed into battle lines. Demonstrators beat makeshift war drums as they rallied themselves and moved forward to confront the riot police.

Again they were driven back. “All of us means all of us and we are against all of them meaning all of them,” Assaad Thebian, an activist with You Stink, bellowed over a loudspeaker as he cheered his comrades on. “We are staying here till they let us in, what they are protecting is the people’s property and does not belong to the politicians.”

The customary chants had stopped, replaced by a single voice calling for a “Revolution.”

“They have grown too comfortable with their corruption and this is not allowed, “ Makram Ouaiss, an organizer with the Lebanese Union for Democratic Elections told The Daily Star. “Our demands remain the same: We want the garbage crisis to end, the release of municipal funds and democratic parliamentary elections.”

Ouaiss also decried the fact that the riot police had blocked the way and hindered the demonstrators from reaching Nijmeh Square. “Instead of opening the doors for the people they are confronting us and denying us our right to claim what is ours,” he said, referring to the Parliament building.

Following the violence You Stink called for an emergency Cabinet session in order to find a sustainable solution to the garbage crisis.

The coalition of civil movements levied responsibility on Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk for the violence at the hands of riot police.

“They are spending all their energy trying to corrupt the Army instead of helping the people,” a demonstrator said.

She was referring to attempts to promote Brig. Gen. Shamel Roukoz, the son-in-law of Free Patriotic Movement head Michel Aoun, to the rank of a major general, to keep the window open for him to be appointed an Army commander.

“We should hang them all, even the ones who have remained silent because they are providing cover to their peers,” another woman added. She insisted that she had been joining the demonstrations from the very first day yet found renewed vigor after being infuriated by the fact that the national dialogue sessions were focused on finding a decision-making mechanism that would appease Aoun instead of attending to the nation’s myriad of woes.

The Red Cross said it transferred 35 people to hospital after they suffered suffocation.

The ISF released a statement saying that the riot police had suffered casualties which necessitated the use of anti-riot measures. The ISF posted photos of injured and bleeding servicemen.

The ISF also said that they were barring protesters from entering Nijmeh Square, “lest we witness unforeseeable circumstances.”