CThis is not the first robbery of its kind. This incident and a similar one which also took place on Wednesday September 14 come at a time when many savers are in despair at the impossibility of withdrawing their savings that have been stuck in the bank for three years. The Lebanese pound has lost more than 90% of its value and 80% of the population has plunged into poverty since 2019.
In footage of the robbery that she broadcast live on social media, Sali Hafez can be heard shouting at employees at a Blom Bank branch to release a sum of money for her.
“I am Sali Hafez, I came today… to collect the money from my sister who is dying in the hospital”says the young woman in the video. “I am not here to kill or set fire… I am here to claim my rights”she adds.
In an interview with local media following the robbery, Sali Hafez claims to have recovered around 13,000 of the 20,000 euros deposited by his family in the bank. Her sister’s care costs 50,000 euros, she says.
According to an AFP correspondent on the spot, gasoline was sprayed on the scene and a pistol was found on the ground. Sali Hafez assures that it was a plastic toy borrowed from his nephew.
Robber or heroine?
Sali and his alleged accomplices managed to escape through a window before security forces arrived. The robbery lasted less than an hour.
Also on Wednesday, a man robbed a bank in the town of Aley, northeast of the capital, according to the National Information Agency (Ani). He was arrested, added the official news agency, without specifying whether he had managed to withdraw money.
Sali Hafez, a 28-year-old interior designer, is an activist in the protest movement launched in October 2019 once morest the political class, her sister Zeina told AFP. According to her, the family was unaware of her intention to rob the bank.
She was hailed as a heroine by many Internet users in Lebanon, where images of the young woman standing on a desk went around social networks. “Merci ! Two weeks ago, I was in tears at Blom Bank. I needed money for an operation”wrote a netizen.
Incidents have erupted regularly since 2019 between bank employees and savers unable to recover their money.
Last month, a saver was cheered by crowds following he burst into a bank in Beirut, claiming, gun in hand, his more than 200,000 euros in savings, to pay for his father’s hospital bills.
The bank ended up giving him nearly 30,000 euros and he surrendered to the authorities. He was not prosecuted.
In January, another saver took hostages in a bank in the east of the country. According to local media, he finally recovered some of his money, before surrendering to the police.
