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Detained bank hostage taker’s relatives plan Friday evening demonstration at ISF headquarters: Statement

Detained bank hostage taker’s relatives plan Friday evening demonstration at ISF headquarters: Statement

Security forces bar off areas near the Federal Bank after an armed suspect took over the bank demanding for the return of his deposits. (Credit: João Sousa/L'Orient Today)

BEIRUT — Relatives of Bassam al-Sheikh Hussein, who on Thursday held Federal Bank employees and customers hostage in Hamra in an attempt to get his trapped deposits, planned a sit-in for Friday evening in front of the General Directorate of the Internal Security Forces in Beirut, the state-run National News Agency reported.

Here’s what we know:

    • Thursday’s hours-long bank standoff ended with Hussein leaving the bank in the custody of security forces. He remained detained on Friday. According to a joint statement released Friday by bank depositors’ groups, Hussein’s relatives said they planned to begin their sit-in at 8 p.m. Friday. His family members had also cut off a road in the Ouzai suburb south of Beirut Friday morning to protest his arrest.

    • In the joint statement, “United Alliance” and the “Cry of the Depositors” groups called on “all depositors, rights holders, and all free Lebanese to join efforts to unite on one front… and recover their money.”

    • The groups also urged depositors who might be “preparing to follow in the footsteps of Bassam al-Sheikh Hussein” to seek the support of lawyers who understand the intricacies of “the right to legitimate self-defense” when claiming deposits “based on Article 184 of the Penal Code.”

BEIRUT — Relatives of Bassam al-Sheikh Hussein, who on Thursday held Federal Bank employees and customers hostage in Hamra in an attempt to get his trapped deposits, planned a sit-in for Friday evening in front of the General Directorate of the Internal Security Forces in Beirut, the state-run National News Agency reported.Here’s what we know:    • Thursday’s hours-long bank...