Enraged Customers Burn Banks Over Cash Withdrawal Limits In Lebanon

Dozens of enraged customers in Lebanon have taken matters into their own hands and attacked several banks in the country’s capital city of Beirut on Thursday, burning and protesting over the government-sanctioned withdrawal limit on citizens’ accounts since three years ago. Since 2019, banks in Lebanon have imposed a restriction on the withdrawals of U.S. dollars, and Lebanese pounds after the country’s economy collapsed, and the country’s currency has lost 97 per cent of its value thus far.

To save the country’s total ruin, banks brought the withdrawal limit into effect in a move that was not backed by the law, leaving depositors to seek access to their funds through lawsuits, and some have taken the situation to the extent of robbing banks with guns to withdraw from their accounts. No less than six banks were attacked on Thursday after the Lebanese pound recorded its lowest value, a spokesperson for Depositors Outcry, a lobby group representing depositors with money stuck in the country’s banking sector, said.

In the Badaro neighbourhood, a bank was set on fire before firefighters swooped in to quench it as riot police took positions around the area, holding their shields. The presidency said they are in the process of working on a financial remedy for the crisis while the country has thus failed to put together a reform needed to secure International Monetary Fund bailout funds for close to a year now.