Insight - Lebanon's rubbish crisis exposes political rot

Garbage is piled along Beirut river in Beirut, Lebanon, September 3, 2015. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir

BEIRUT (Reuters) - The overpowering stench of the rubbish piling up in Lebanon's streets has become a potent symbol of the political rot protesters blame not only for the garbage crisis but a gridlocked sectarian power system unable to meet citizens’ most basic needs, from electricity to water, health to education.

As mounds of rubbish steam in the heat and humidity of the Lebanese summer, the broad-based movement of civic protest in the streets has taken aim at politicians with its campaign slogan: “You Stink”.