Protesters in downtown Beirut demonstrating towards the Lebanese authorities have been met with tear fuel and water cannons Saturday, the New York Occasions.

Thousands turned out near parliament in central Beirut, in the biggest protest to date over uncollected rubbish. Dozens of other protesters were detained. Private television station LBC reported police attacked one of its crew.

In comments to the Al-Jadeed television network, the interior minister said he had ordered security forces to hold their fire and pledged that those who had fired on protesters “would be held accountable”.

About 15 demonstrators were wounded, one of them was in critical condition, the Lebanese newspaper The Daily Star reported citing the Lebanese branch of Red Cross.

Garbage started piling up in Beirut after 17 July, when the main landfill for Lebanon’s capital was closed before officials had agreed on an alternative site.

Protesters called for the resignation of the government, blaming it for worsening the country’s political paralysis.

The health minister warned this week that Lebanon could suffer a “major health catastrophe”.

Last month the country was left with mounting piles of rubbish after politicians, divided by regional and local conflict, were unable to agree where to dump the capital’s refuse. Those behind recent protests have urged more people to join them.

Some politicians within the government opposed to Salam have blamed what they describe as “excessive use of force” by security forces against peaceful protests organised by civil campaigners and activists for provoking clashes.

The country has been without a president for more than a year. Parliament has extended its own term twice and has not convened because lawmakers differ on whether they can continue working before voting for a president.

The violence spread through large parts of the camp with exchanges of rocket and heavy machine gun fire.

The “You Stink” protesters on Wednesday, demanding an answer, and police responded with water cannons and tear fuel then as properly.

The camp is home to some 70,000 Palestinian refugees, as well as houses Islamists and criminal fugitives.