People gathered in front of the Grand Serail in Beirut to protest against banking restrictions on their deposits, May 9, 2023. (Credit: Mohammad Yassine/L'Orient-Le Jour)
BEIRUT — Lebanese bank depositors staged a protest Thursday in downtown Beirut, urging authorities to adopt a “fair” plan that would allow them to recover funds that have been trapped in banks for six years. The demonstration, organized by several groups, quickly escalated into clashes with security forces, leaving several protesters, including a former minister, injured, according to the state-run National News Agency (NNA).
During the sit-in at Riad Solh Square, across from the Grand Serail, protesters set tires on fire. A confrontation then broke out between demonstrators and security forces stationed outside a Bank of Beirut branch.
Following the clashes, Alaa Khurshid, president of the “Cry of the Depositors” association, told local media that the demonstration began outside the Grand Serail before moving to the Ministry of Finance and then the ministry of Economy and Trade.
A clash broke out as protesters were making their way from the Ministry of Finance to the Ministry of Economy and Trade. Former minister Issam Sharafeddine was beaten, according to what we observed, by security forces after the road was blocked,” he said. Khurshid said another clash took place outside the Ministry of Economy, adding that “protesters set tires on fire, while security forces intervened to stop them.”
Earlier this month, Banque du Liban (Central Bank, BDL) Governor Karim Souhaid said he did not expect financial reforms and the deposit recovery law, also known as the “financial gap law,” to be adopted for another six to eight months, in an interview with CNN Business Arabic.
The draft law, published by the government at the end of 2025, seeks to determine the extent of the financial losses, how they will be distributed and the mechanisms for recovering deposits that have been trapped in banks since 2019. The draft remains subject to reservations from the central bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), whose delegation has been in Beirut for several days.
After decades of excessive spending by the country’s political elite helped plunge the economy into a severe crisis in late 2019, banks imposed strict restrictions on capital withdrawals, leaving depositors unable to access their funds.
