Dozens of protesters smashed bank facades and burned tires on Thursday in Beirut to protest the inability to withdraw their deposits at a time when the Lebanese pound recorded a new record fall, according to AFP photographers, according to AFP photographers. Since 2019, Lebanese banks have introduced strict restrictions on deposit withdrawals, which have increased. Gradually, until it became almost impossible for depositors to manage their money, especially those deposited in US dollars, or transfer them abroad, and due to the impact of the crisis, which the World Bank has ranked among the worst in the world since 1850, the lira has lost about 95% of its value, and on Badaro Street in Beirut, about 50 people have smashed the facades of at least four banks during an action called by the demonstrators of the “Depositors Cry”, a civil initiative protecting the rights of depositors and accompanying their movements burned tires in front of the cans they targeted.
“Three years ago they stole, confiscated and plundered our money. There are millionaires among us, but they don’t have a penny in their pockets,” one of the demonstrators, Dr. Pascal Al-Rassi, told AFP. no more solution. We will escalate the situation until we restore our rights.”
From Badaro, the demonstrators went to the house of the head of the Banking Association, Salim Sfeir, located in the north-eastern suburbs of Beirut, where they burned tires and firewood, and slogans, including “thieves”, were written on the wall of the house. (thieves), and some of them threw stones over the walls into a house surrounded by barbed wire.
Since the beginning of the crisis, banks have seen repeated conflicts between angry citizens and employees who adhere to the instructions of their management, as well as several intrusions from depositors demanding their money.
Likewise, banks have closed several times, and the Banking Association has declared an indefinite strike on the sixth of this month, given that the current crisis is not only a banking crisis, but the entire financial system.
The economic situation is deteriorating in Lebanon, where the livelihoods of many people have shrunk.
