Angry protesters in Lebanon smashed windows and set tires on fire outside two of the country’s biggest banks in the capital city of Beirut.
They’re upset because the value of the local currency has hit a new low deepening the poverty gap. Lebanon’s economic meltdown and unprecedented financial crisis erupted in 2019 following years of corruption and mismanagement by the country’s rulers.
More than threequarters of Lebanon’s population of 6 million has been plunged into poverty, and the Lebanese pound lost about 97percent of its value against the dollar. Lebanon’s struggling banks, which have restricted cash withdrawals since late 2019, were closed for a tenth day on Thursday in what they call an “open-ended strike”.
The country has been without a president since October 2022 with a caretaker government with limited functions.
