Since Tuesday morning, downtown Beirut has been witnessing angry movements by depositors against Lebanese banks, to demand the return of their deposits that have been held for more than three years in banks.
The protesters organized mobile marches in Beirut, including the vicinity of Parliament, and then smashed the facades of a number of banks, before the Lebanese army intervened to remove the demonstrators, which led to some injuries among them.
The protesters chanted at the banks, and the legislative and executive authorities, demanding their money back, vowing to escalate their movements, which are still “non-violent”, according to their expression, after more than three years have passed without any solutions to the crisis.
The “Depositors’ Cry” association called on Lebanese people of various affiliations, sects, and regions to take to the streets and demand their rights, stressing that non-violent movements will not last long, and escalation will master the scene if their money is not recovered.
The association said, in a statement, that “the banks must start finding solutions immediately, and there must be a clear position on the crisis by the representatives who built their electoral programs on promises to preserve and protect the rights of depositors, and we have only seen speech, as well as a clear position from the executive authority that It works with banks to find ways to start stealing people’s deposits.”
The association expressed its absolute rejection of the Central Bank of Lebanon’s continued issuance of circulars that “contribute to dissolving people’s deposits and cover the banks’ crimes,” stressing that “the goals of the move are clear, towards banks, their owners, the Banque du Liban, and the executive and legislative authorities.”
In the context, a banking source told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, “These moves will not benefit the people, and their battle should not be with the banks. The banks are aware of the calls that went out to demonstrate in the street, and they are studying the steps that they will take and the decisions that they may issue, but the step of comprehensive closure has not yet been decided, while some of the branches that have been attacked may close their doors, with the aim of carrying out reforms and preserving the safety of workers.
Since late 2019, the Lebanese have been suffering from an unprecedented economic crisis, which led to a historic collapse in the value of the Lebanese pound, and a sharp deterioration in the purchasing power of citizens, while banks continued the policy of withholding deposits, and handing over parts of them to depositors according to circulars that lose their great value, at a time more than The exchange rate of the dollar on the black market is the barriers of 100 and 130 thousand pounds.
Banks in Lebanon, on more than one occasion, closed their doors to people, and entered into comprehensive strikes, in response to the popular movements, as well as in an attempt to pressure towards stopping the calls and judicial decisions issued against them, which oblige them to return the deposits of the plaintiff depositors.
2023-05-09 09:31:45
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