A Lebanese armed man took an unspecified number of hostages at the Federal Bank of Lebanon in central Beirut on Thursday.
According to the local Aljadeed TV channel, the armed man demands the withdrawal of his deposit frozen by the bank over the economic crisis in Lebanon.
The armed man wants to withdraw his $210,000 deposit and a $500,000 deposit of his brother, which were frozen by the bank since the outbreak of the country’s economic crisis in 2019, which have forced banks to limit withdrawals of hard currency, the channel reported,
The broadcaster said the armed man tried to get some of his money to pay for his father’s medical treatment.
At least two shots were heard inside the bank.
Since November 2019, the Lebanese banking cartel, in agreement with the Central Bank, has frozen almost all current accounts and deposits of investments and savings in heavy currency (dollar, euro) of Lebanese savers. Meanwhile, the local lira has devalued more than 95% against the US dollar.
It is not the first time that such an episode has occurred in the shadow of Lebanon’s worst economic crisis, where according to the UN, 80% of the resident population has been reduced to poverty by the ruling elite responsible for the financial default. revealed in the autumn of 2019 and made official by the government in March 2020.
(With inputs from agencies)
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