Bank panic in Lebanon: 7 robberies in 48 hours by customers who want to get “frozen” deposits

Seven banks were targeted by “robbers” yesterday and today in Lebanon: they were customers desperately trying to withdraw their deposits, which remain frozen due to the unprecedented economic crisis affecting the country.

Lebanon has been facing serious economic difficulties since 2019, which a large part of the citizens attribute to the mismanagement, corruption, indifference and inaction of politicians. When the value of the Lebanese pound collapsed, banks began to impose draconian measures, preventing their customers from withdrawing their savings, especially if they were foreign currency deposits.

Within 48 hours, seven banks were targeted by “robbers”. As these incidents multiply, the Minister of the Interior called an emergency meeting of the security services to “take the necessary measures”.

The Association of Lebanese Banks (ABL) also called an emergency meeting and ordered the closure of all branches for three days next week.

On Wednesday, a young woman in a state of desperation “robbed” a bank in Beirut to take her savings and pay for her sister’s hospitalization. The robberies then snowballed: a few hours later, a man robbed a branch in Alei, a community in the northeast of the capital. Early this morning, a 50-year-old man and his son entered a Byblos Bank branch in Gazieh, southern Lebanon, and threatened employees with a fake gun, demanding they hand over their money.

Three branch robberies followed in Beirut: in the Tarek Jide neighborhood, the situation was tense until late afternoon after the customer-robber barricaded himself inside the Blom Bank branch with police officers. According to eyewitnesses gathered on the street, this is an unarmed, over-indebted trader asking to be allowed to withdraw his deposits.

Three kilometers away, in the Ramlet al-Baida district, a man armed with a shotgun broke into the Lebanon & Gulf Bank branch while in the south of the city, a young man, armed with a fake pistol, said he managed to withdraw $20,000.

In Schim, in the south, a retired soldier held six people hostage, including the bank manager, who offered to give him $100,000, according to some media reports. He refused, demanding to be paid the full amount of his deposits, i.e. double. Shots were heard.

In August, a depositor was mobbed after he stormed a Beirut bank and, gun in hand, demanded his savings of more than €200,000 to pay for his father’s hospital bills . The bank agreed to give him around 30,000 euros and he handed himself over to the police. He was not prosecuted.

RES-EMP

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