“Give me my money back!” With those words, a 42-year-old man stormed into the bank on Thursday morning. The Lebanese carried a shotgun and a can of petrol, and fired a few warning salvos. The man threatened to set fire to both the building and himself, and held six to seven bank employees hostage.
The hostage-taker, referred to in the Lebanese media by his initials (BH), demanded, according to an eyewitness, that he be allowed to withdraw 2,000 euros to pay his father’s hospital bills. He would have been admitted for surgery. In total, there would be 200 thousand euros in his frozen account. In recent years he would have only been able to absorb a fraction.
Police and security forces surrounded the bank building. Attempts to reach a settlement with the man were unsuccessful for a long time, but after seven hours he surrendered. Lebanese media report that he has received money from his account. It is still unclear how much money is involved.
State bankruptcy
In Lebanon, frustrations have been running high for some time because account holders cannot access their savings. As a result of a state bankruptcy in early 2019, bank deposits have been frozen and the middle class has been largely wiped out. The currency is hardly worth anything due to hyperinflation. Withdrawing money is only possible to a limited extent and also at an unattractive exchange rate, with the result that many Lebanese feel robbed.
hero status
On the street, the man can count on a lot of understanding. “He has every right to demand his money after the politicians stole our money and put it in Swiss accounts,” the Arab news website quotes. The National a passerby. ‘With or without violence – he’s right.’ Several dozen protesters chanted slogans to express their sympathy. ‘Down with the rule of the banks!’
At the beginning of this year, another man, Abdallah al-Sai, achieved hero status among many Lebanese when he came heavily armed to claim his savings in the Bekaa Valley. The staff eventually handed him some of the money, whereupon he surrendered to the police. It is not complicated to obtain weapons in Lebanon: since the civil war (which ended in 1990) disarmament has never been attempted.