Sit-in of retired armed forces members in front of the headquarters of the Banque du Liban in Baalbeck. (Credit: NNA)
BEIRUT — Retired armed forces members held a sit-in Monday morning outside the headquarters of Banque du Liban in Baalbeck to protest the reassessment of judges’ salaries — a move they described as a “bribe” — while they themselves only receive a pension paid at the official rate of LL1,500 to the dollar.
Here’s what we know:
• Around 20 veterans prevented BDL’s employees from entering their office on Monday morning, demanding “the immediate cancellation of the ‘bribe’ which allows judges to withdraw their salaries at the rate of LL8,000 to the dollar.”
• The protesters also demanded that any salary increases in the public sector apply to all civil servants, “ especially serving and retired military personnel.”
• In addition, they demanded “medical coverage for all agents of all security services, an increase in schooling aid and the possibility of withdrawing their assets blocked in banks.” Informal capital controls imposed by commercial banks since the onset of the country’s financial crisis in 2019 have prohibited account holders across the country and from all walks of life from accessing the full value of their deposits.
• While most civil servants still receive low, Lebanese lira denominated salaries in the face of the rising cost of living in Lebanon, following the record depreciation of the national currency, judges, though an unclear mechanism, have been permitted to withdraw their salaries at the LL8,000 to $1 exchange rate, rather than the official rate of LL1,500 to the dollar.