BEIRUT: Riot police, using batons, cleared “You Stink” campaign protesters from the Environment Ministry in Downtown Beirut Tuesday night, ending some nine hours of blockade by activists who staged a sit-in calling for the minister’s resignation over the protracted trash crisis.

At least seven people were injured in the scuffles that erupted between riot police and protesters Tuesday night and taken to hospitals, while 60 others were treated on the spot, George Kettani, head of the Lebanese Red Cross, told The Daily Star.

Despite a statement by Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk calling on security forces not to use force in evicting protesters staging a sit-in inside the Environment Ministry, activists said they were beaten and forced to leave.

Young men and women from the You Stink group sat cross-legged on the floor, clapping and shouting “out, out, out,” as they gathered outside Environment Minister Mohammad Machnouk’s office on the eighth floor of the Azarieh building around 1 p.m.

Machnouk, who staunchly rejected the protesters’ demands to resign, was holed up in his office for long hours before he eventually left the Environment Ministry’s building from a back door at around 10 p.m.

“We were forced to leave, we were beaten,” activist Imad Bazzi from the You Stink group told Al-Jadeed TV. “No one left willingly. They were lying to us. Once they tell us that our friends left and then we discovered that other people were still detained,” he added.

“They humiliated us and hit us,” another activist said. “We were in a place that we had the right to protest in … We were hit a lot.”

The interior minister tweeted that if information that protesters were beaten by riot police was true, those responsible would be punished.

At 5:45 p.m., Beirut’s police chief Brig. Gen. Mohammad Ayyoubi asked all media to leave the building as riot police prepared to clear the floor where protesters continued their sit-in.

After a large number of reporters refused to leave, police started cutting the live transmission cables used by the different camera crews. Media stations were still able to keep broadcasting by using Skype through their smartphones.

An hour later, police were seen carrying protesters out of the building, some of them with bruise marks and others handcuffed, witnesses said.

“They first turned off the electricity, then locked all the bathrooms. When riot police arrived and the media was kicked out, they started beating us with batons,” activist Mohammad Mogharbel told The Daily Star.

The activist claimed that protesters were struck around the head and beaten all the way down to the ground floor.

LBC TV host Joe Maalouf, who was present when riot police began clearing the floor, said that protesters and media members were beaten and dragged from the building.

Nouhad Mashnouk, the environment minister’s cousin, said an Internal Security Forces team entered the building around 7:15 p.m. to remove the remaining protesters.

It was later reported around 8 p.m. that the interior minister reached an agreement with the remaining activists to peacefully vacate the Environment Ministry, according to local media outlets.

All protesters were removed from the building by 9:30 p.m, after which local media reported that Machnouk left his office.

Following initial reports that the You Stink group urged people to rally in nearby Riad al-Solh Square at 6 p.m. to demand Machnouk’s immediate resignation, movement spokesperson Joey Ayoub later on his Facebook page called for protesters to gather in front of the Environment Ministry.

At least 1,000 protesters, flanked by riot police, remain camped out at various entrances to the complex, chanting for the resignation of the environment minister.

Although the large majority of the protesters were peaceful, several small skirmishes broke out between demonstrators and police.

Police later attempted to disperse the crowd around the Martyrs’ Square side of the ministry building. Several loud bangs were also heard, but it was unclear whether they originated from objects employed by security forces or demonstrators.

The head of Lebanon’s Green Party Nada Zarour later entered the floor that the protesters were occupying with a security escort. She was attempting to negotiate with the demonstrators but they refused to speak with her and called on her to leave.

MP Walid Jumblatt commented on the developments on Twitter, emphasizing that “occupying the office of the environment minister isn’t the solution to resolve the garbage crisis and other demands.”

The parliamentary Future bloc condemned the “invasion” of the Environment Ministry by activists. “Making changes peacefully and democratically is a right linked with freedom of expression. However, occupying the Environment Ministry only serves those who support chaos,” the bloc said in a statement released after its weekly meeting. “The bloc rejects pressure exerted to push the environment minister or any other minister to resign through this dangerous coup-like manner.”

The activists initially managed to storm the building, taking advantage of the police focus in Riad al-Solh and Martyrs’ Square in anticipation of any You Stink action.

One of the co-organizers of Tuesday’s action told The Daily Star that protesters entered the facility individually or in couples to avoid being noticed by police, then rushed into the ministry’s hallways and launched their sit-in.

You Stink had threatened to escalate its protests against the government after it failed to meet any of its four demands during a 72-hour ultimatum set last Saturday.