‘Hero’ Lebanon hostage-taker turns self in after bank drama

Beirut, Lebanon (AFP):

Bystanders hailed as a hero an armed customer who held bank staff hostage for hours Thursday in Lebanon because he couldn’t access funds frozen after the country’s economic collapse.

The suspect, identified only as Bassam, was armed with a rifle and had doused the interior of the bank with gasoline, security sources said.

But after eight hours the standoff ended peacefully.

The incident was the latest involving local banks and angry depositors unable to access savings that have been locked in Lebanese banks since the country’s economic crisis began in 2019.

Official media said the suspect turned himself in when the bank agreed to give him $30,000 out of his more than $200,000 in trapped savings.

Protesters at the scene had chanted “down with the rule of the banks”, while others took to social media to express their support for the shaggy-bearded suspect wearing shorts and flip-flops.

Police could not immediately say whether the man would face charges.

Lebanon has been mired in an economic crisis for more than two years, since the market value of the local currency began to plummet and banks started to enforce draconian restrictions on foreign and local currency withdrawals.

Lenders have also prevented transfers of money abroad.

The local currency has lost more than 90 percent of its value since the onset of the crisis.

Inflation is rampant, electricity is scarce and, according to the United Nations, around 80 percent of Lebanese live in poverty.

Many Lebanese blame the country’s political elite, wealthy and aged figures entrenched for decades. They cite corruption and also blame the banking sector for the country’s economic collapse.

International donors say aid to the bankrupt country is conditional on reforms, which politicians have so far resisted.