A number of engineers carried out a protest sit-in outside the Central Bank branch in Sidon, in conjunction with similar stands outside other branches in Beirut and other regions, under the slogan, “Until rights are restored” and “For the right to hospitalization and a decent retirement.”

Members of the Engineers’ Syndicate, Ibrahim Hijazi and Bilal Shaaban, delivered two words on behalf of protesters, denouncing “the ruling political regime and the financial system that has caused the tragedies of the Lebanese people, alongside the practices of the banks and the central bank governor.”

They deemed that “the banks are seizing the funds and savings of engineers and depositors in general, and imposing controls on the Syndicate’s accounts and its members’ funds, particularly the Engineers’ Hospitalization and Retirement Fund.”

They emphasized that their stance “is a message to the government and the Central Bank that are legalizing the theft of engineers’ deposits,” and demanded “the return of deposits in their same currency because they are an acquired right.”