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A truck blocks the entrance to a bank branch in the city of Saida, Lebanon, on January 4. Mahmoud ZAYYAT / AFP

Not a day goes by without incidents breaking out inside bank branches between angry customers and employees all over Lebanon. The police have intervened on several occasions to restore order over the past three days.

With our correspondent in Beirut , Paul Khalifeh

For three months, Lebanese banks have imposed severe restrictions on any withdrawal in foreign currency. A few days ago, the measures were tightened: even withdrawals in Lebanese pounds are now rationed.

Many banks refuse to pay checks denominated in national currency and oblige the beneficiaries to deposit the amounts in accounts, sometimes blocked for several months.

This is what happened this Saturday in Saïda, 40 kilometers south of Beirut. The abused client called his employer, who blocked the agency's entrances using trucks and backhoes.

The day before, in Halba, in the north of Lebanon, supporters of the protest ransacked a bank branch after being violently repressed by the police. They did so after the bank refused to pay $ 600 to a depositor who wanted to buy drugs. After this incident, the Lebanese Banks Association decided to close all branches in this region until further notice.

Beirut president of the board Melhem Khalaf found the restrictions imposed by the banks unconstitutional and illegal. A judge in summary proceedings in Beirut forced a bank to transfer 25,000 euros for the benefit of one of its customers to finance the studies of his children in Spain. This judgment is a precedent which could be considered as case law.