A witness said the attackers doused the inside of the bank with gasoline and threatened to set it on fire during the incident, which was streamed live on Facebook. Sali Hafez told local TV station Al Jadeed that she needed the money to pay for her sister’s cancer treatment. She said she had repeatedly visited the bank to ask for her money and was told she could only receive $200 a month in Lebanese pounds. Hafez said the toy gun belonged to her nephew. “I had begged the branch manager before for my money and told him my sister was dying, she didn’t have much time,” she said in the interview. “I got to a point where I had nothing left to lose.” A woman holding a gun at a Blom Bank branch in Beirut, in this script taken from Al-Jadeed footage on September 14. Photo: Al Jadeed/Reuters Lebanon’s cash-strapped banks have imposed strict limits on foreign currency withdrawals since 2019, freezing the savings of millions of people. About three-quarters of the population have fallen into poverty as the tiny Mediterranean country’s economy continues to flounder. Hafez and activists from a group called Depositors’ Outcry entered the Blom branch and stormed the manager’s office. They forced bank officials to hand over $12,000 and the equivalent of about $1,000 in Lebanese pounds. Hafez said she had a total of $20,000 in savings in the bank. She said she had already sold many of her personal belongings and had considered selling her kidney to fund her 23-year-old sister’s cancer treatment. Nadine Nakhal, a bank customer, said the attackers “poured petrol all over the place and took out a lighter and threatened to light it”. She said a woman with a gun threatened to shoot the manager if she didn’t get her money. Hafez said in a live video she posted on her Facebook account that she meant no harm. “I didn’t go into the bank to kill anyone or set the place on fire,” he said. “I’m here to get my rights.” Hafez has been celebrated as a hero on social media in Lebanon as many in the country struggle to make ends meet and rebuild their economies. He encouraged others to take similar action. Some of the activists entered the bank with Hafez, while others protested at the entrance. Hafez eventually left with cash in a plastic bag, witnesses said. Security forces standing outside arrested several of the activists, including a man carrying a gun. It was not immediately clear if this was also a toy gun. The incident came weeks after a delivery driver stormed another bank branch in Beirut and held 10 people hostage for seven hours, demanding tens of thousands of dollars from his trapped savings. Most called him a hero. Lebanon has struggled for more than two years to implement key reforms in its decimated banking sector and economy. He has so far failed to reach an agreement with the International Monetary Fund on a recovery program that would unlock billions of dollars in international loans and aid to make the country viable again. Meanwhile, millions of people are struggling to cope with rampant blackouts and skyrocketing inflation. “We have to put an end to everything that is happening to us in this country,” Nakhal said. “Everyone’s money is stuck in the banks and in this case it is someone who is sick. We have to find a solution.”
