"They stole 35 years of our lives," reads a banner carried by a protester on Sept. 7, 2023, next to the Banque du Liban in Beirut. (Credit: Mohamad Yassin/L'Orient-Le Jour)
BEIRUT — Several dozen people demonstrated Thursday morning in front of the Banque du Liban (BDL) headquarters in Beirut's Hamra neighborhood, denouncing illegal restrictions on their bank accounts put in place since the country's economic downward spiral began in 2019.
Organized by the "Depositors' Cry" activist collective, protesters carried banners reading "Manssouri, don't be a copy of Salameh," in reference to BDL acting governor Wassim Manssouri, who has been in charge is disgraced former governor Riad Salemeh left office this summer with no successor in place.
Other protesters carried banners with slogans denouncing Lebanese banks. Some held pretend gallows ropes.
A man carries a banner denouncing Banque du Liban's circulars, during a demonstration on Sept. 7, 2023 outside the central bank's premises in Beirut. (Credit: Mohamad Yassin/L'Orient-Le Jour)
Since the economic crisis began in late 2019, banks have imposed limits on customers' withdrawals and transfers. In recent months, the country has seen a wave of bank holdups in which depositors, sometimes armed, burst into banks to demand their own savings.
Among the various circulars issued by the BDL since the beginning of the crisis, No. 158 allows selected beneficiariesto withdraw 400 "fresh" dollars each month from accounts in "lollars" and the equivalent of this amount in Lebanese lira at the rate of LL15,000 to the dollar. This was modified at the beginning of June, and now allows newcomers to withdraw just $300 per month.