Depositors stormed banks in the capital, Beirut, and other Lebanese cities, today, Friday. As a result, the caretaker interior minister called for an emergency meeting of the Central Internal Security Council, stressing that the security forces would strict enforcement of the law.
With officials and representatives collapsing to confront this chaos, the caretaker government announced - in a statement - that it had prepared an emergency budget aimed at addressing the living conditions of citizens and ensuring financial stability.
Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said that the 2022 budget is "corrective for a transitional phase and has an emergency character," stressing that "all the foundations of the state are fractured, and we must all cooperate to reach the desired result."
Academic researcher Dr. Ali Shukr: We have reached the stage of no return in #Lebanon, in light of the absence of state protection for citizens and their financial rights.
- Al Jazeera (@AJArabic) September 16, 2022
For his part, Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi confirmed that the security forces will act in accordance with the law and "strictly implement it," and said that the authorities did not intervene to protect banks, "but to protect Lebanon, public order and all citizens."
Molloy added that whoever recovers his deposit by force now gets it at the expense of the rest of the depositors.
Meanwhile, the Association of Banks in Lebanon announced that banks will close their doors for 3 days, starting next Monday, due to the escalation of security concerns.
While a number of depositors who stormed the banks obtained sums of their financial deposits and later surrendered to the security authorities, Reuters reported that a shooting took place during the storming of a bank in the town of Chehim in Mount Lebanon Governorate.
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Lebanese media: Negotiations with the intruder of the bank in the new road in #Beirut to give him 50 thousand dollars from his deposit
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- Al Jazeera (@AJArabic) September 16, 2022
Earlier, Al-Jazeera correspondent reported that a depositor broke into another bank in Beirut to demand his deposit.
One of the depositors also stormed a bank in the southern town of Ghazieh, demanding his deposit as well.
The reporter said that the depositor pulled out a plastic pistol, and demanded that the bank's employees hand him over his deposit, threatening to burn himself if his demand was not met.
The incident ended after the depositor got about $20,000, then turned himself in to the security authorities.
For his part, a spokesman for the Depositors Association in Lebanon said that what happened today is the beginning and will continue until all rights are fully restored.