Armed customers raided at least five Lebanese banks on Friday to demand access to their own funds, which were trapped by Lebanon’s dizzying financial collapse.
These robberies have become more and more frequent as the country plunges into an economic crisis that has led banks to impose strict limits on cash withdrawals to stave off collapse. The interior minister warned on Friday that the attacks were destroying order, but for many Lebanese, desperate customers have become popular heroes.
A series of robberies this week were carried out by depositors, mostly middle-class, who used real and toy guns.
The Lebanese currency has lost more than 95% of its value since 2019, hitting a new low this week of around 38,000 to the dollar.
Banks forced depositors with US dollar accounts to withdraw their money in Lebanese pounds and at an exchange rate far below the market rate.
Lebanon’s National News Agency said a depositor raided a BLOM bank in Beirut on Friday, holding several employees and customers hostage.
Lebanon News online channel identified the man as Abed Soubra. With one injured hand wrapped in bandages, he said withdrawing his $50,000 in Lebanese currency would cost him $35,000 at the bank’s exchange rate.
“That means they were going to rob me,” he said.
Also on Friday, a depositor armed with a rifle took bank employees and customers hostage at a branch of Lebanon and Gulf Bank, according to Lebanon’s MTV News. He said that after several hours of negotiations, the bank agreed to release $15,000 to his brothers in exchange for the shooter turning himself in.
The country’s Interior Minister Bassam al-Mawlawi called an emergency meeting of Lebanon’s security council and vaguely blamed the instigators he said were inciting depositors – possibly an allusion to one or more of the country’s many political factions or militias. country.
“This destroys public order and causes other depositors to lose their rights,” he said.
The country’s banking association responded to the wave of attacks by saying it would close banks for three days starting Monday.
One of the founders of a depositor advocacy group, Rafic Ghraizi, said that after nearly three years of banks blocking withdrawals, people were desperate.
“No action has been taken by the Lebanese authorities or the judiciary,” he told The New York Times. “Depositors have found no other option to try to withdraw their money. The street is boiling,” he said, referring to growing public hostility.
Ghraizi said he sees the three-day closure by the banking association as an escalation.
“It’s a humanitarian issue,” he said. “Some depositors need your money to cover their family’s medical expenses.”
Last month, Bassen Hussein, 42, stormed a Beirut bank with a rifle, taking hostages and threatening to kill everyone and set himself on fire. He said he needed to withdraw his $200,000 savings to pay for an operation for his father. Hussein was detained by the police for several days and then released.
The UN said that more than 80% of Lebanese are living in poverty today. The government is also unable to provide basic services, with many hours of electricity cuts per day and shortages of basic medicines.
The economic collapse is attributed to political chaos and widespread corruption.
A group of lawmakers left the Chamber on Friday, halting negotiations to discuss this year’s budget. The country has failed to implement the necessary measures to qualify for US$3 billion in aid from the International Monetary Fund.
Some of the attackers have become popular heroes. Videos posted on social media show crowds gathered outside some banks in support of the attackers inside.
A client, Sally Hafez, on Wednesday used a gun, which turned out to be a toy, to demand $13,000 from her account, saying it was to pay for her cancer treatment. sister.
“My sister is dying in front of me and nobody wants to help us,” she told Lebanon’s al-Jadeed TV. “We have nothing to lose.”
She said she begged the bank manager to help her, and he said he could free up $200 a month, which she says is less than the cost of an injection of the drug.
Hafez said he made sure to sign a receipt for $13,000.
Translated by Luiz Roberto M. Gonçalves
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