The trash crisis has ignited the largest Lebanese protests in years and has emerged as a festering symbol of the government's paralysis and failure to provide basic services. It 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 streets 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.
After meeting for three and a half hours, leaders of Lebanon's various sectarian blocs issued a brief statement, saying the talks would resume in a week.
"They did not even bother to meet tomorrow or the day after, they postponed it for a week and came out without any decision," said Assaad Thebian, an organizer with the main group behind the protests, which calls itself "You Stink."
"They showed that they are indifferent and should not be in leadership positions," he told The Associated Press.
"This dialogue is a joke. They are meeting to see how they can split the cheese," said Marwan Basha, a 57-year-old engineer taking part in the sit-in near parliament, as riot police stood nearby. His T-shirt had Arabic words on the front, asking: "Where is the water, where is the electricity, where are the job opportunities?"
On the barbed wire that separates protesters from the building, activists pinned a large banner with the pictures of the 128 members of parliament reading: "You have failed at everything … Go Home."
So far, the only response to the growing protest movement has been a promise by the parliament speaker, Nabih Berri, for the high-level talks among the politicians.
His call has been backed by the main political leaders, who attended the meeting Wednesday, but it was unclear how such talks among the same veteran politicians being vilified by the protesters would help break the deadlock.
The leaders are deeply divided over core issues, such as what a new election law would look like, and whether it should be passed before or after a president is elected.
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