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SECURITY

Mikati criticizes protesters who set fire to banks amid lira collapse

"Security incidents are in no one's interest," said the caretaker Minister of Interior, following a meeting of the Central Security Council.

Mikati criticizes protesters who set fire to banks amid lira collapse

A demonstrator participates in setting fire to a bank in Beirut's Badaro neighborhood, Feb. 16, 2023. (Credit: Mohammad Yassin/L'Orient Today)

BEIRUT — Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati issued a statement Friday criticizing protestors who set fire to several banks in Beirut and Tripoli.

In the statement, Mikati speculated whether the protestors were "really depositors."

Lebanon's caretaker Minister of Interior, Bassam Mawlawi, said the security incidents "are not in the interest of anyone," while Lebanon grapples with an ongoing, severe economic crisis.

The country experienced a day of anger on Thursday after demonstrators ransacked banks in the Badaro neighborhood of Beirut and in the North to protest illegal restrictions imposed by the banking sector since 2019.

The Cry of the Depositors, a collective advocating on behalf of depositors, told L'Orient Today that its members were behind the ransacking of banks in the capital.

'The push of a button'

"The security incidents of the past two days have given the impression that they happened with the push of a button," Mikati said after the Central Security Council meeting, according to remarks reported by the government presidency. "Following what happened yesterday, when banks were burned down, I wondered if depositors are really behind these events or if orders were given from someone." 

Caretaker Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati at the Grand Serail on Feb. 17, 2023. (Credit: Dalati & Nohra)

"We are doing our best to preserve the power of the state and the prestige of the laws, especially in the shadow of the rot that is infecting all state administrations," Mikti said. Despite Thursday's incidents, he said "one of the major achievements is that the security situation is under control."

Mikati added that "other meetings will be held next week to take the measures required by the Banque du Liban (BDL)," without giving further details.

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Mikati, whose caretaker cabinet has been managing governmental affairs since May 22, regularly defends BDL governor Riad Salameh, who is being prosecuted both locally and internationally on corruption charges.

On Thursday, the first investigating judge of the Bekaa, Amani Salameh, set a hearing for Salameh, members of the Central Council and government commissioners at the BDL, following a complaint filed by depositors' groups. The hearing is scheduled for March 16. 

Mikati also commented on the security situation in the Bekaa, where three Lebanese soldiers and three suspects were killed during a drug trafficking raid on Thursday.

"It is the army's destiny to always be at the forefront of the struggle to defend the country and its sovereignty and protect its people," said Mikati.

In a statement issued Thursday evening, the Lebanese Army said the deceased three soldiers are: Hassan Sherif, 33; Paul Jaradi, 23; and George Abu Chaaya, 21. On Friday, the army announced that it had arrested ten Lebanese and two Syrian suspects and seized quantities of drugs, weapons and ammunition as a result of the operation.

Caretaker Minister Mawlawi said it is necessary to "separate security from politics and avoid social problems having repercussions on the security situation."

"Security incidents are in no one's interest," he said. "Solving the depositors' crisis is not done by riots." 

BEIRUT — Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati issued a statement Friday criticizing protestors who set fire to several banks in Beirut and Tripoli.In the statement, Mikati speculated whether the protestors were "really depositors."Lebanon's caretaker Minister of Interior, Bassam Mawlawi, said the security incidents "are not in the interest of anyone," while Lebanon grapples with an...