According to AFP photographers, dozens of savers smashed bank windows and set tires on fire in Beirut on Thursday to claim their blocked money as the Lebanese currency fell sharply against the dollar.
In the Badaro district of Beirut, around fifty people vandalized the facades of at least four banks and burned tires in front of them during a demonstration initiated by a savings association. The protesters then gathered outside the home of a banker in a Beirut suburb, according to local media.
Since the start of the unprecedented economic crisis that unleashed in 2019, the Lebanese pound has lost more than 95% of its value against the greenback.
Savers no longer have access to their savings locked in banks that have restricted withdrawals and transfers of funds.
Last year, a series of raids by customers who wanted to withdraw their savings forced some banks to close for several weeks.
On February 6, the Banking Association of Lebanon (ABL) announced an open strike in this sector. Only ticket machines remained open.
“Three years ago they (…) stole our money,” one of the protesters, Pascal al-Rassi, told AFP. “Some people here are millionaires but don’t have a cent in their pocket,” this doctor continues to demonstrate determinedly until he gets his money back.
The pound was trading at nearly LL80,000 to the dollar on Thursday, while it was trading at around LL60,000 to the dollar in early February, according to exchange rate monitoring sites and forex traders.
This renewed decline has pushed up commodity prices in a country where more than 80% of the population lives below the poverty line, according to the UN.
In response to the deterioration in their living conditions, dozens of taxi drivers blocked the road in front of the Interior Ministry in Beirut on Wednesday to protest the drop in their income.
Lebanon is experiencing one of the world’s worst economic crises since 1850, according to the World Bank, and the power vacuum is making the situation worse. Since November 1, the divided parliament has not elected a president eleven times.
The country is governed by an interim government that is unable to implement the necessary reforms to receive help from the international community.