Bank Holdups and Protests Continue to Rise in Lebanon as Depositors Demand Their Own Savings

On Dec. 17, reports detail that residents in Lebanon have been staging sit-ins and protests at banks in order to access their own savings accounts. Since the economic collapse in 2019, Lebanon’s banks froze Lebanese bank accounts, and a number of branches have remained closed indefinitely. The deprivation of wealth has caused a few impoverished Lebanese to demand their savings at gunpoint but so far, even these tactics have left most residents walking away or arrested penniless. Lebanon’s Banks Deal With Protests and Gunpoint Demands From People Who Want Their Savings Back In August 2019, it became apparent to the