Collective Action
Protest in front of Parliament ahead of capital control discussion
BEIRUT — Dozens of people, including members of the bank despositors' group Moutahidoun (United) and Citizens in a State party, on Monday morning protested in front of Parliament to demonstrate their opposition to the current version of a capital control draft law ahead of its discussion by parliamentary committees.
According to the National News Agency, the protesters were joined by caretaker Minister of Displaced Issam Charafeddine.
The head of Moutahidoun, lawyer and activist Rami Ollaik told L'Orient Today on Monday that the current version of the capital control law would "erase the rights of depositors to file lawsuits against banks for not giving them their money." Ollaik also said that the law should "necessarily force those who have transferred their money abroad especially government employees to return it."
Ollaik was briefly arrested in late October after participating in a bank holdup operation along with two depositors at the Hazmieh branch of Credit Libanais. The depositors managed to withdraw a portion of their money during the holdup. Ollaik was released the following week.
Banks have imposed de-facto capital controls since the onset of the economic crisis in October 2019, meaning many account holders have had severely restricted access to their savings while others have succeeded in transferring large sums of money abroad.
A capital control law is one of many reforms demanded by the International Monetary Fund in return for $3 billion in cash assistance.