Demonstrators gather outside of parliament to denounce the proposed capital control law on April 13, 2022. (Credit: Kabalan Farah / L'Orient Today)
BEIRUT — Dozens of angry depositors gathered Wednesday morning in Downtown Beirut near Parliament, to protest against a capital control bill that MPs are considering in committees today. This project was endorsed by cabinet at the end of March with slight modifications, as the country continues the economic freefall it has been experiencing since 2019, with banks imposing illegal restrictions on their customers for three years.
Here’s what we know:
• The protesters assembled in the street as Lebanese Forces MP and the president of the parliamentary Administration and Justice Committee, Georges Adwan, arrived at the scene, making his way to the chamber. “You are thieves! Shame on you!” angry protesters heckled.
• One of the citizens, armed with a megaphone, tried to calm the situation. Adwan was then able to go into Parliament, the army blocking the access of demonstrators to one of the streets leading to the building where parliamentary committees meet.
• The collective Cry of the Depositors called for this mobilization by denouncing the capital control law as a “death penalty for depositors.” On Monday, The head of the depositors’ union and the Association of Depositors in Lebanon Hassan Moghnieh warned the political class against the approval of the latest version of the capital control bill, condemning the legislation which he said gives “carte blanche to banks and Banque du Liban.”
• He also expressed his disdain for the current version of this law, saying it “should not be approved without distributing the losses, unifying the exchange rate and restructuring the banks,” calling on professionals in the sector to announce a strike for next week.
• The capital control bill aims to legalize and standardize banking restrictions put in place at the start of the financial crisis in 2019. It is among the conditions required by the International Monetary Fund to apply the preliminary agreement reached with Lebanon last week. The deal would provide Lebanon with $3 billion over four years, on the condition that Lebanese authorities endorse a certain number of measures requested by the IMF.