Protesters Storm Central Bank Headquarters to Recite Statement

Five young men and women belonging to the Youth Movement for Change on Thursday stormed the headquarters of the central bank on Hamra Street in protest at the bank’s so-called financial engineering operations and other banking measures.

“They entered through the main gate and gathered in the lobby as one of them started reciting a statement, but guards forced them to leave the lobby and the statement was recited outside the bank,” the National News Agency said.

A video circulated on social media shows the guards charging against the protesters at the bank's gate to push them out. TV networks said riot police also took part in the confrontation.

The statement criticized “banks’ exploitation and the policies of the central bank governor,” noting that the governor’s “financial engineering operations granted banks illicit gains that benefited top depositors.”

Protesters from the same group had stormed the headquarters of the Association of Banks in Lebanon in recent weeks.