deposit 5000
slot deposit 5000
slot gacor situs toto
togel online
toto 4d
situs slot toto 4ddemo slot gacorslot 88
slot gacor slot gacor
slot gacor
brenjitu
slot gacor
situs toto
situs toto
SITUS TOTO
situs toto
TOTO 4D
SITUS TOTO 4D
SLOT GACOR
https://booking.embuni.ac.ke/live-draw-sydney-hongkong
TOTO 4D
toto togel
slot online
slot gacor
slot gacor
slot pulsa
hongkong lotto
slot gacor
brenjitu
slot pragmatic
situs bola
situs gacor
situs toto
situs slot gacor
slot 4d

Lebanese rob five banks one day over frozen savings

Agency Report
Agency Report
A Lebanese army soldier stands guard outside a branch of LGB Bank, reportedly held up by a depositor seeking access to his own savings according to a bank employee, in Ramlet al-Bayda area in the capital Beirut on September 16, 2022. (Photo by Fadel ITANI / AFP)

Five Lebanese banks were stormed Friday by depositors seeking to unlock frozen savings, the latest in a string of such “heists” that have garnered wide public support in the crisis-hit country.

Lebanon has been mired in an economic crisis for more than two years since the value of its currency began plummeting and banks started imposing draconian restrictions on withdrawals.

In the past week, seven bank branches have been targeted by “depositor heists”, prompting lenders to announce a three-day closure starting Monday, according to the Association of Banks in Lebanon.

As the incidents snowballed on Friday, Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi called an emergency meeting in the afternoon.

“Reclaiming rights in this way… can break the system and make the rest of the depositors lose their rights,” he told reporters after the meeting.

Public Prosecutor Ghassan Oueidat urged police to arrest all those involved in the heists, describing them as “armed robberies on banks with the aim of stopping the banking sector in Lebanon from working, and instigating more financial and economic crises”.

Oueidat also asked police to investigate whether any of the heists were connected to each other, a judicial source told AFP.

The holdup of a Beirut bank on Wednesday by an activist who filmed herself using a toy gun appears to have sparked a series of copycat raids by angry depositors.

On Friday there were another three such incidents in Beirut and two in south Lebanon, AFP correspondents and a security source said.

 

– ‘Emptied jerrycan’ –

 

In one case, a man carrying a gun and jerrycan of fuel demanded staff at a branch of the Byblos bank in the southern town of Ghaziyeh hand over his money.

Accompanied by his son, he threatened bank staff with the gun, which a Lebanese television channel said may have been a toy, before making his demand.

“He emptied a jerrycan of fuel on the floor,” a bank security guard told an AFP correspondent.

The man walked away with about $19,000 in cash but turned himself in to police moments later as a crowd formed in front of the bank to support him.

A few hours later in the Beirut neighbourhood of Tariq al-Jdideh, depositor Abed Soubra held up a branch of Blom Bank, demanding access to his frozen savings.

He eventually surrendered his weapon to police in the early evening but insisted he intended to stay in the bank until he got his money, an AFP correspondent inside the branch reported.

Another man armed with a hunting rifle held up a bank in Beirut’s Ramlet el-Baida neighbourhood, witnesses told an AFP photographer at the scene.

The man was eventually escorted out of the branch by security forces but his siblings were handed $15,000 of his savings, the Depositors Union said.

A man who held up a bank in Chehime in the south was also led away by security forces after pocketing $25,000 of his savings, the group said.

 

– New budget delay –

 

The spate of heists comes two days after a young activist stormed a central Beirut bank with fuel and a plastic gun to demand the deposits of her sister, who needed to pay for cancer treatment.

The woman identified as Sali Hafiz made off with around $13,000 and became an instant hero on social media.

“She had every right to do this. I would do the same if I was as brave as her,” said Carla Chehab, a 28-year-old Beirut resident.

“The thieves are the banks, the government and all rich people protecting them,” she added.

The severity of Lebanon’s crisis has been widely blamed on a self-serving political elite and decades of corruption.

The currency has lost more than 90 per cent of its value on the black market in recent years, while poverty and unemployment have soared.

Banks have been widely accused of operating like a cartel and of spiriting large amounts out of the country for senior Lebanese officials at a time when foreign transfers were already blocked for ordinary citizens.

A parliament session to approve the 2022 budget, a key reform needed for Lebanon to unlock billions of dollars from international lenders, was adjourned to September 26 on Friday after a quorum was lost when some lawmakers walked out.


Share this Article
Leave a comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

situs totoslot thailand situs totoslot gacor situs toto slot online situs toto demo slot gacor situs slot gacorsitus 4d situs totoslot gacorslot gacorslot gacorslot gacorslot gacor
slot gacor
slot gacor situs toto
togel online
toto 4d
situs slot slot demo pgslot 88
slot gacor slot gacor
slot gacor
brenjitu
situs toto
situs toto
SITUS TOTO
toto macau 4d
TOTO 4D
SITUS TOTO 4D
SLOT GACOR
https://booking.embuni.ac.ke/live-draw-sydney-hongkong
TOTO 4D
toto togel
slot online
slot gacor
slot pulsa
hongkong lotto
slot gacor
slot gacor
slot pragmatic
situs bola
situs gacor
situs toto
situs slot gacor
situs totoslot gacordemo slot situs slot gacor
slot66
slot gacor
situs slot gacor
slot gacor
scatter hitam
scatter hitam
slot gacor scatter hitam
scatter hitam
situs slot gacor pulsa
situs baru slot gacor