Sali Hafez told local Al-Jadeed TV that she needed the money to finance 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.” 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 Bank 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 trapped in that 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”. He said the woman with the gun threatened to shoot the manager if he 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 small, crisis-hit country struggle to make ends meet and rebuild their economies. He encouraged others to take similar action to recover their savings. 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 what appeared to be a pistol. It was not immediately clear if this was also a toy gun. Meanwhile, Alaa Khorchid who leads the Depositors’ Outcry protest group said a man communicating and coordinating with the group broke into a bank in the mountain town of Aley to retrieve his trapped savings. Local media reported that the man walked into the BankMed branch alone with an unloaded shotgun but was unable to retrieve his savings before being arrested. Both incidents 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 in his trapped savings. Most hailed him as a hero. “There is no government, no economic recovery plan and few reserves,” Khorchid told the AP, adding that people have no choice but to “take matters into their own hands.” “These people worked for decades, but not to build palaces for the rulers, while they could not afford to buy a bottle of medicine.” On Wednesday night, activists blocked a major street in Beirut outside a police barracks holding two activists who stormed the bank earlier in the day with Hafez. The protesters demanded the immediate release of the two men. 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. Its government has struggled to function in an official capacity since May, and its newly elected parliament remains deeply divided. Meanwhile, millions of people struggle 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.”
