Disgruntled depositors staged a riot outside the Central Bank of Lebanon in Beirut on Friday, while the country is gripped by a deep financial and economic crisis, a RIA Novosti correspondent reported
BEIRUT (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th March, 2023) Disgruntled depositors staged a riot outside the Central Bank of Lebanon in Beirut on Friday, while the country is gripped by a deep financial and economic crisis, a RIA Novosti correspondent reported.
According to the report, a Lebanese depositors' association has staged a demonstration against the country's central bank circulars. Demonstrators are burning tires and throwing firecrackers at the building, while accusing the bank of crimes against the Lebanese people, the report read.
Protesters are holding posters calling themselves the Party of Depositors and demanding that the Central Bank stop "haircutting" deposits, the correspondent reported.
Lebanese broadcaster Al Jadeed reported that there was a heavy military and security presence in Beirut's Al Hamra neighborhood, where many of the banks are located.
Former Lebanese leader Michel Aoun stepped down at the end of October 2022 after six years in power despite the fact that at the time no other head of state had been elected by the parliament. The president's duties were entrusted to a transitional cabinet headed by Prime Minister Najib Mikati. Lebanon's parliament failed to elect a new president after 11 attempts.
Since the beginning of the financial crisis, local commercial banks have reportedly imposed illegal withdrawal and transfer restrictions without any capital controls law regulating such measures. Banks in Lebanon often face attacks from angry depositors demanding that institutions return all of their deposits.
For more than three years, Lebanon has been mired in a deep financial and economic crisis, which has been accompanied by political and social tensions. Against this backdrop, the banking system has been almost completely paralyzed, and the national currency depreciated sharply against the dollar. As a result, more than 70% of the population have fallen below the poverty line.
