Woman with toy gun grabs trapped savings from bank in Beirut
- Sali Hafez said she needed to fund her 23-year-old sister’s cancer treatment, but the bank said she could only have US$200 a month in Lebanese pounds
- Lebanon’s cash-strapped banks have imposed strict limits on withdrawals of foreign currency, tying up the savings of millions of people struggling to cope
A woman accompanied by activists and brandishing what she said was a toy pistol broke into a Beirut bank branch on Wednesday, taking US$13,000 from her trapped savings.
Sali Hafez told the local Al-Jadeed TV that she needed the money to fund 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 US$200 a month in Lebanese pounds. Hafez said the toy pistol belonged to her nephew.
“I had begged the branch manager before for my money, and I told him my sister was dying, didn’t have much time left,” she said in the interview. “I reached a point where I had nothing else to lose.”
Lebanon’s cash-strapped banks have imposed strict limits on withdrawals of foreign currency since 2019, tying up the savings of millions of people. About three-quarters of the population has slipped into poverty as the tiny Mediterranean country’s economy continues to spiral.
Hafez and activists from a group called Depositors’ Outcry entered the BLOM Bank branch and stormed into the manager’s office. They forced bank employees to hand over US$12,000 and the equivalent of about US$1,000 in Lebanese pounds.
Hafez said she had a total of US$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.
