Crowd gather around the depositor wounded by the security guard in front of the SGBL in Bourj al-Barajneh, in the southern suburbs of Beirut, on March 3, 2023. (Credit: Twitter/@fouadkhreiss)
BEIRUT — A security guard at the Société Générale de Banque au Liban (SGBL) shot and injured a depositor who was trying to enter the branch in Bourj Brajneh, in the southern suburbs of Beirut, on Friday, a spokesperson for the Internal Security Forces confirmed to L'Orient-Le Jour.
Alaa Khorchid, head of The Cry of the Depositors group, also confirmed this to L'Orient-Le Jour.
Several videos circulating on social media showed a crowd gathered in front of the bank, while sounds of shooting and screaming could be heard. A team of rescue workers then arrived at the scene to help a wounded man lying on the ground.
"A depositor of the Mcheik family tried to enter the bank to demand a service," the ISF spokesperson told L'Orient-Le Jour. "A dispute broke out and escalated between him and a security guard, who shot him in the leg."
"The depositor's brother fired in the direction of the bank, and the security guard fled," the ISF spokesperson added. "The injured depositor was taken to hospital."
'This bank practices the worst behavior'
"The staff of the SGBL treated the depositor very poorly," said Alaa Khorchid, head of The Cry of the Depositors group.
The depositor reportedly called his family members who then arrived to assist him.
"This bank asks the customers for unbelievable additional fees. It practices the worst behavior," Khorshid said.
The SGBL did not immediately respond to our requests for comment.
This week, Lebanon's commercial banks suspended their month-long strike to demand the dismissal of several legal proceedings against banking institutions, launched by the Attorney General to the Court of Cassation of Mount Lebanon, Ghada Aoun.
On Wednesday, a customer armed with a gas can threatened to set his bank on fire at a CreditBank branch in Saida, South Lebanon. He then managed to withdraw some funds from of his savings after staging a brief sit-in.
Since the onset of the Lebanese economic crisis in 2019, banks have enforced illegal restrictions on depositors, restricting access to their accounts. As a result, bank holdups and sit-ins by customers wanting to withdraw their own funds spiked in recent months.
