On Saturday, thousands of demonstrators gathered in downtown Beirut for a protest organized by the so-called You Stink campaign to express their outrage at the government's failure to resolve the garbage crisis.

The protesters carried national Lebanese flags.

Police fired rubber-coated steel bullets as well as tear gas canisters, and used water cannons to disperse the crowd. Seventy-five protesters were injured and dozens of others detained during the melee. Medical sources, requesting anonymity, said 60 of the wounded were treated on site, while 15 others were hospitalized.

Meanwhile, police said 35 members of its personnel were wounded, and that some of them are in critical condition.

Lebanese Interior Minister Nohad Machnouk, in a statement released late on Saturday, pledged that the garbage crisis would be tackled during next week's cabinet session.

Prime Minister Tammam Salam has announced that he would attend a news conference at 11:00 a.m. local time (0800 GMT) on Sunday to discuss the crisis.