A "closed" sign on a bank counter in Beirut. (Credit: Mohamad Yassin/L'Orient Today)
A depositor broke into a branch of the Intercontinental Bank of Lebanon (IBL) in Tripoli, North Lebanon, on Wednesday, accompanied by her sick mother, lawyer and activist Rami Ollaik told L'Orient-Le Jour.
The incident is the third of its kind today: a former soldier stormed into a branch of Bank Audi in Sour, South Lebanon, and a man staged a sit-in in front of a branch of a Société Générale de Banque au Liban (SGBL) branch in Amioun, a town in Koura, North Lebanon. Both demanded access to their deposits at the banks.
In Tripoli, IBL has closed its doors as the depositor, Amina Mohammad, negotiates with the administration to recover her savings, Ollaik said, adding that the depositor is unarmed. The nature of the depositor's mother's illness has not been specified.
On Monday, a customer broke into the Al Baraka Bank in Hamra, Beirut, to claim his mother's savings. After long hours of negotiations, an agreement was reached between the bank and the customer's mother to return $15,000 of her total savings, which amount to $132,000.