In Beirut, the capital of Beirut, a woman entered a bank with a gun, took people hostage and threatened to set the bank on fire, demanding to withdraw money from her own account in the bank. The woman, identified as Sali Hafiz, entered a branch of BLOM Bank in Beirut carrying a handgun along with several other depositors and stormed into the manager’s chamber.
The depositors demanded to withdraw money from their own accounts beyond set limits. Due to the acute financial crisis that Lebanon is facing, the banks in the country have imposed strict limits on withdrawals since 2019. This decision has locked a large portion of the funds of citizens in the banks.
Sally Hafiz stormed into her local bank with a gun in Beirut, along with other activists, to demand the sum of approximately 20k of her own money, held by the bank, to help with her sister's Cancer treatment. #Lebanon
— Luna Safwan – لونا صفوان (@LunaSafwan) September 14, 2022
pic.twitter.com/mQ15FcDbjM
Sali Hafiz said that she needed the money to fund her sister’s cancer treatment. The woman was accompanied by depositors who are members of a group Depositors’ Outcry, formed to demand the withdrawal of their own money trapped in banks. Some other members of the group stayed outside the bank and staged a protest by chanting slogans.
According to eyewitnesses, those who entered the BLOM bank branch doused petrol everywhere, took out a lighter and threatened to light it. Sally Hafiz brandished her gun and threatened to shoot the manager if she is not given her money. She also went live on her Facebook account, showing the live video of the incident.
In the video, she said, “I am Sali Hafiz, I came today… to take the deposits of my sister who is dying in the hospital.” She added, “I did not come to kill anyone or to start a fire… I came to claim my rights.”
The Depositors’ Outcry activists also locked the entrance of the bank, and demanded their money from their accounts in the bank. Eventually, Sali Hafiz came out of the bank carrying a plastic bag full of cash, amounting to $13,000.
WATCH: With the assistance of the Depositors Outcry organization, an armed female depositor entered Beirut's BLOM Bank, held employees at gunpoint, and fled with approximately $13,000 in cash.
— BNN Ghana (@BNNGHnews) September 14, 2022
No injuries or arrests have been reported.
pic.twitter.com/3WLXQ4KWiW
The woman and her companions escaped from the bank through a smashed window at the back before security forces arrived. The heist lasted for around an hour.
When the security forces arrived, they arrested several activists who were protesting outside the bank.
Several videos of the incident at the bank have appeared on social media, showing the woman standing on the top of a table and brandishing her gun. Other videos show panic among other people present in the bank branch.
BREAKING: In Beirut, an armed woman threatens to set herself and hostages on fire at a bank. pic.twitter.com/qLzW4BOwFw
— BNN Lebanon (@BNNLebanon) September 14, 2022
Posting an update on the incident later on Facebook, she wrote, “The entire state is under my house and I’m at the airport. See you in Istanbul, ciao”, indicating that she is heated to Istanbul with the money.
Earlier in the day, she had posted an image of her sister promising treatment of her cancer. She had written, “I promise you I will get you to travel and you will be treated. You will come back and raise your daughter”.
Sali Hafiz immediately became a hero among people in Lebanon, who are desperate to access their funds locked by the banks.
This is not the first time someone robbed a bank to get money from own bank account in Lebanon. A similar incident had happened last month in Beirut where an armed man had held staff at a bank hostage for several hours to withdraw money from his frozen bank account. The man named Bassam Al-Sheikh Hussein had surrendered after the bank agreed to give him $30,000 out of his trapped savings amounting to over $200,000.
Hussein had also poured petrol in the Federal Bank branch at Hamra in Beirut and had pointed a shotgun at bank employees.
Since September 2019, the banks in Lebanon have imposed limits on the withdrawal of money by depositors. In most banks in the country, a maximum of $1000 a month can be withdrawn from bank accounts, triggering massive outrage among people. Some banks have set even lower limits. Arguments and even fistfights between depositors and bank employees have become common due to this.
US Dollar is regularly used in Lebanon along with the Lebanese pound, and a severe slowdown in foreign currency injections has hampered the foreign exchange reserve badly.
