LEBANESE PROTESTERS VANDALISE BANKS, DEMAND THEIR MONEY BACK AMID POLITICAL DEADLOCK

Fri 16 June 2023:

In order to get their money back, protesters in Lebanon have attacked multiple bank buildings, set tires on fire, and smashed windows.

The Bank Audi, Bank of Beirut, and Byblos Bank branches in Sin el-Fil in the Mount Lebanon Governorate were the targets of the irate protests, which took place on Thursday in a neighborhood outside of the capital, Beirut.

The protesters were angry about financial controls which have destroyed many people’s life savings.

People demanded the return of their money, also calling for officials involved in corruption, including the central bank Governor Riad Salameh, to be held accountable.

“We are done with them. We’ve waited too long, it’s enough,” one protester told Al Jazeera.

Another said they were sending the banks a message.

“We will not lose our rights, not today and not after 100 years. This is a message they need to understand,” he said.

Since 2019, Lebanon has experienced a crippling economic crisis that the World Bank has rated as one of the worst in modern history.

Since the crisis started, the Lebanese pound has lost more than 98 percent of its value relative to the US dollar.

A political elite that has dominated Lebanon since the end of the 1975–1990 civil war is blamed by experts for decades of corruption and poor management that have contributed to the country’s current situation.

Salameh is among officials from the political class to have been mired in corruption scandals, and has been blamed for instigating the crippling crisis.

After France filed an arrest order last month as part of its investigation into whether the governor embezzled hundreds of millions of euros in public funds, an Interpol alert was issued against him. Salameh denies the charges.

Protests erupted on Thursday after Lebanon’s parliament failed for the 12th time to pick a president and end a political deadlock that has gripped the country for months.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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