'Withdrawal Restrictions' in Lebanon... The Story of a Bank Robber with a Toy Gun?

Sister Dying in Hospital Comes to Withdraw Money from Account
Lebanese Pound Value Plummets Over 90%
World Bank: "Worst Recession Since 19th Century"

A woman who could not find the deposit in her account in Lebanon stormed into a bank holding a toy gun.
Photo by YouTube Capture

[Asia Economy Intern Reporter Kim Gun-chan] In Lebanon, a Middle Eastern country facing an economic crisis, a woman who could not withdraw her deposited savings stormed into a bank holding a toy gun.

According to the AP News on the 14th (local time), Salih Hafiz entered a branch of Blom Bank in Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, around 11 a.m. wearing black top and bottom and carrying a pistol.

Hafiz took out the gun and climbed onto the desk, shouting, "I came to withdraw money from my sister's account who is dying in the hospital," and "I am not here to kill or shoot anyone. I just came to claim my rights."

Activists from the depositors' group 'Depositors' Cry' who accompanied Hafiz threatened to pour gasoline around and set fire. Eventually, Hafiz and her group took $12,000 and Lebanese pounds equivalent to $1,000 from the bank counter and left the bank.

Hafiz, who live-streamed the incident on Facebook, revealed in an interview with local media the story behind her pretending to be a robber to withdraw her deposit.

Hafiz said, "I pleaded with the bank branch manager to give me the $20,000 my family entrusted. I said my sister has cancer and is dying in the hospital, so I need the hospital fees, but it was useless." She also claimed that the pistol she had on her waist was her nephew's toy gun.

Lebanon's economic hardship has worsened to the worst ever due to overlapping adversities such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 Beirut port explosion, and the Ukraine war. The value of the local currency, the Lebanese pound, has plummeted by more than 90%. The World Bank (WB) has diagnosed Lebanon's economic crisis as "the most severe and prolonged depression in world history since the mid-19th century."

Amid the economic crisis, Lebanese banks have restricted most customers' withdrawals to prevent a 'bank run'?a massive withdrawal event caused by customers fearing banks' inability to pay deposits. As a result, most Lebanese residents have money in banks but cannot use it.

As withdrawal restrictions have prolonged, incidents have occurred where people armed with weapons enter banks demanding withdrawals. Last month, a man stormed into a bank in Beirut carrying a rifle. He held a hostage situation demanding the return of $200,000 in his account, saying, "I lack hospital fees for my sick father."

On the same day, in the small northeastern town of Eli in Beirut, a man armed with a weapon received part of his deposited money and surrendered to security authorities, according to the state news agency NNA. Those who threatened banks to withdraw deposits are temporarily detained but are reportedly released soon after.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.