It is a crime spree without precedent in Lebanon. Assailants have stormed banks across the cash-strapped country to demand access to their own money, with crowds often gathering outside to cheer them on.
At least five Lebanese banks were targeted on Friday in addition to two on Wednesday and another last month, the robbers becoming instant heroes in a country where citizens have been cut off from their funds for nearly three years during one of its worst financial crises on record.
The Association of Banks in Lebanon said it was closing all branches in the country for three days to protest against the attacks and protect banking staff.
During one of the heists on Friday morning, at a Blom Bank branch in Beirut’s Tariq el-Jdideh neighbourhood, dozens of people congregated outside chanting against the government and in support of the man inside, identified as Abou Sabra.
Several men climbed up to the window of the bank manager’s office, where they passed the robber microphones from local TV stations and relayed updates on his progress to the crowd below.
“I am with him,” said Rabih Obeidi, one of those gathered outside the branch. “This money is for us, so we must take it. If some of my family was sick, I would do it too, because the government has turned us into poor people.”
Lebanon’s economy has been deteriorating since it became apparent that the government had no capacity to finance its debts – including to the country’s commercial banks – and the national currency went into freefall.
Banks have responded by locking customers out from their money, allowing them to withdraw a paltry amount in US dollars each month or more in local currency. The Lebanese lira or pound, however, has lost more than 90% of its value as the price of food, fuel and medicines has soared.
A man armed with a gun that turned out to be a toy held up a branch of Byblos Bank in the southern city of Ghazieh on Friday and managed to retrieve some of his savings before being arrested, a security source told Reuters.
In a third incident, a man armed with a pellet gun entered a branch of LGB Bank in Beirut’s Ramlet al-Baida area seeking to withdraw about $50,000 (£44,000) in savings, a bank employee said.
On Wednesday a woman held up a bank using a toy gun and managed to secure $13,000 from her account to help pay for her sister’s cancer treatment. She fled to Istanbul before she could be arrested.
Lebanon’s banking association urged authorities on Thursday to holdthose engaging in “verbal and physical attacks” on banks accountable and said lenders would not be lenient.
Last month, a man was detained after he held up a Beirut bank to withdraw funds to treat his sick father. He was released without charge after the bank dropped its lawsuit against him.
