A demonstrator and a policeman in front of the head of ABL's residence in Horsh Tabet on Feb. 16, 2023. (Credit: Mohammad Yassin/L'Orient-Le Jour)
BEIRUT — The Moutahidoun (United) lawyers' collective on Tuesday called on depositors to "direct their anger" at the houses of bank owners and to spare bank employees and customers. The call came as commercial banks resumed an open-ended strike following a two-week suspension of the action.
Depositors have repeatedly expressed their anger at the banks in recent months — sometimes vandalizing ATMs or bank fronts and sometimes storming bank branches — in response to de facto capital controls imposed on most account holders' deposits since October 2019.
Moutahidoun is one of several local organizations protesting the restrictions imposed by Lebanese banks on access to foreign currency deposits.
In a statement, the collective called on "all angry depositors to direct their anger towards bank owners in their residences and where they might be present."
This call comes "amid a state of anger among the depositors due to the abuse perpetrated by bank owners and their association to oppose the judiciary" and as the "living conditions of the depositors have worsened," according to the text.
The statement also calls to "spare the bank employees and their clients any additional pressures."
On Tuesday, banks resumed their open strike, which had been suspended for two weeks, in order to call for several demands, including a capital control law, after legal proceedings were brought against some of their members.
The lawyers' collective also said that moving against bank owners is "justified considering they are the ones who bear most responsibility for holding up people's deposits."