Depositor opening fire against BLOM bank in Saida on Jan. 10, 2023. (Credit: photo sent by Muntasser Abdallah/L'Orient Today)
BEIRUT — A depositor fired a small gun at the entrance of BLOM Bank near Elia Square in South Lebanon's Saida Tuesday morning after an argument with one of the bank's employees, a police source told L'Orient Today. No injuries were reported after the attack.
The depositor, a retired soldier, reportedly retrieved the weapon from his car after not receiving bank services. He then shot at the bank's glass door while a security guard was still standing behind it, according to cell phone footage sent from a person at the scene.
He was later arrested by army intelligence.
Banks have imposed illegal restrictions on customers since the start of the country's economic crisis in 2019, limiting withdrawals and transfers. Lebanon in recent months has witnessed a spate of bank holdups in which depositors burst into branches to claim their own savings, sometimes armed.
The holdups have prompted banks to close temporarily several times, before reopening with reinforced security measures and stricter protocols for how and when they receive clients.
Reporting contributed by Muntasser Abdallah.