Activists and municipalities rejected Thursday a decision by the government to temporarily reopen the controversial Naameh garbage landfill and to set up a landfill in the Akkar town of Srar.

“In line with the municipal council's previous decisions and stances, the conferees unanimously stressed their rejection of any attempt to reopen the landfill, not even for one hour,” the Naameh Municipality said in a statement issued after an emergency meeting.

The organizers of the "You Stink" mass protests over piles of festering trash in the streets on Thursday criticized the government's long-awaited plan to deal with the crisis, which was devised by a ministerial panel led by Agriculture Minister Akram Shehayyeb.

Thousands of demonstrators have taken to the streets of Beirut in recent weeks to demand an end to long-standing political divisions that have affected even basic public services.

Beirut Examining Magistrate George Rizk demanded on Thursday a death penalty against Tareq Yatim for stabbing and killing a man, and a jail sentence against Lina Haidar for helping the fugitive.

An arrest warrant was issued in July against Yatim for stabbing to death George al-Rif over a traffic dispute, in a case that shocked the country after a graphic video of the incident went viral on social media.

Progressive Socialist Party chief MP Walid Jumblat sought on Thursday to limit any possible tension that could emerge over the killing of Sheikh Wahid al-Balous, a prominent Druze cleric in Syria.

“This is not an opportunity to challenge anyone. We respect all viewpoints,” said Jumblat at the memorial service of al-Balous held at the Druze Community House in Beirut's Verdun district.

Two more individuals died on Thursday as the result of the dense sandstorm that engulfed Lebanon, bringing the total to five since the storm hit early this week, the state-run National News Agency reported.

A 70-year-old woman died from respiratory problems caused by the sandstorm in the Akkar town of Fnaideq, NNA said.

The influx of refugees to Europe was triggered in part by donors taking the "cheap option" and not giving enough aid to displaced Syrians in Lebanon and Jordan, the head of the U.N. refugee agency in Jordan said on Wednesday.

Harper told The Associated Press in an interview that refugees feel betrayed by the international community and the aid agencies. This, he said, "is a reason why we are seeing movement back into Syria, and in many cases, movements continue on into Europe and further afield."

Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea has rejected calls made by the Change and Reform bloc leader, MP Michel Aoun, for direct presidential elections.

The election of a president by the people requires a huge change for the regime and needs calm and deep thinking, Geagea said in an interview with the Qatari al-Watan newspaper published on Thursday.

Progressive Socialist Party chief lawmaker Walid Jumblat has reiterated that dialogue is necessary to find solutions to the country's growing crises.

“Dialogue remains necessary and required despite the rightful and wrong doubts of civil society,” Jumblat told An Nahar newspaper in remarks published on Thursday.

The cabinet on Wednesday approved a waste management plan proposed by Agriculture Minister Akram Shehayyeb during an emergency marathon session that was boycotted by Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil of the Free Patriotic Movement and State Minister for Parliament Affairs Mohammed Fneish of Hizbullah.

The plan involves the reopening of the controversial Naameh landfill for a period of seven days, said Shehayyeb after the session. The decision to reopen the landfill is aimed at dumping the garbage that accumulated in random sites in Beirut and Mount Lebanon after the July 17 closure of Naameh.

Lebanese protesters angry over a lack of basic services and festering garbage returned to the streets of Beirut on Wednesday and threw eggs at the convoys of officials arriving in parliament to attend a national dialogue that Speaker Nabih Berri chaired.

The protesters shouted "thieves!" and threw the eggs as the convoys of politicians drove by. Sparked by waste piling up in the capital and Mount Lebanon, a collection of protest movements demonstrated ahead of and during the dialogue and staged a mass rally at Martyrs Square in the afternoon.