Crowd gathered in front of Blom Bank in Tariq al-Jdideh, Sep. 16, 2022. (Credit: Mohammad Yassine / L'Orient Today)
BEIRUT — Two depositors, in Beirut and South Lebanon, took bank employees and citizens hostage and demanded their money Friday morning.
Around noon, an armed man entered the Blom bank branch in Beirut's Tariq al-Jdideh neighborhood and is currently still there. Security forces were deployed in the area and the situation seems to be under control.
In front of another Blom bank branch, in Hamra, onlookers were torn between supporting the depositor’s action, with one lady stating that if such a situation happened while she was at the bank she would help the depositor, while another lady stated that "It’s selfish, and soon enough they’ll punish us all, and there won’t be any more cash in the banks.”
Heist in Ghazieh
Earlier in the day, depositor Mohammed Korkmaz had entered Byblos Bank in Ghazieh, South Lebanon, on Thursday, carrying what seemed to be a military weapon, poured gasoline in the bank and threatened to burn the branch if he wasn’t given his deposit, which is stuck in the bank.
The stand-off was quickly put to an end after security forces intervened, according to L'Orient Today's correspondent in the south.
His niece, Layla Assaf, told L'Orient Today that the weapon he was carrying was a toy pistol.
Before surrendering himself, Korkmaz was given a part of his $19,200 deposit, and he handed it to someone to get it out of the bank. Assaf said that his total deposit amounts to approximately $20,000.
She added that her uncle is now detained in the police station of the town of Maghdoucheh, along with his son who was with him at the bank, and is currently waiting for an investigation to be opened.
Four heists in a week
Friday's bank heist happened two days after two hostage-takings took place almost simultaneously in Lebanon on Wednesday, the first at a Blom Bank branch in Sodeco, Beirut, and the second at a bank in Aley, southeast of the capital.
These actions were "coordinated" by associations defending the rights of depositors, lawyer and activist Rami Ollaik confirmed to L'Orient-Le Jour.
Following these heists, the Association of Banks in Lebanon announced Thursday that bank branches will be forced to "take preventive security measures," while the Federation of Syndicates of Bank Employees in Lebanon denounced that "some depositors are endangering the safety of our colleagues in the branches and harming [our] dignity."
Over the past months, multiple similar incidents happened, as people's deposits have been illegally held by the banks since Oct. 2019.
On Aug. 11, an armed customer held up employees and customers for hours at the Hamra branch of Federal Bank. He was briefly detained by the police, given $35,000 and told that he would enter into negotiations with the Federal Bank to demand that he be permitted to withdraw his account balance of $137,000. Citizens and associations mobilized in front of the bank in solidarity.
Last January, an angry customer held dozens of employees and customers hostage at a bank in Bekaa after the bank refused to pay him his savings in dollars. The man, who eventually won his case, surrendered to the police without any casualties.