Woman holds up bank to get her own savings out

A woman who broke into a bank and held it up with a toy gun did it to demand access to her savings in order to help her sister.

On Wednesday, 14 September, Sali Hafez allegedly broke into a Blom Bank branch in Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, armed with a toy pistol.

Hafez said she had previously tried to take out her savings amounting to $20,000 - which she desperately needs - however, had been told there was a monthly limit on how much she could withdraw.

Hafez told Al Jadeed TV station the money was to help pay for cancer treatment for her 23-year-old sister.

However, when she first tried to get the money, she found there was a maximum limit on how much she could take out each month, set at $200 Lebanese pounds.

She explained: "I had begged the branch manager before for my money, and I told him my sister was dying, didn’t have much time left. I reached a point where I had nothing else to lose."

The restrictions on withdrawals of foreign currency in Lebanon have been in place since 2019, which has left millions in financial crisis and without full access to their savings.

After debating whether or not to sell a kidney and having sold many personal items already, Hafez said she resolved to breaking into the bank with a group of activists called Depositors' Outcry.

Depositors' Outcry, alongside United for Lebanon, have called for the 'time of procrastination and unlawful trading with deposits' to be over.

In a post on Facebook, the activist group wrote: "It is not new or strange today to hear that Lebanese banks have seized accepting checks; nor new it is to have them carry on with their extortion towards depositors, exploiting the latters needs by offering them less than one-fifth of the value of their deposits, coupled with exoneration notes.

"Effectively as such, banks have rather turned into currency exchange agents through seizing depositors life savings, while managing to ship abroad in foreign currency what they accrue of these savings and at a 100 percent cash value, in turn.

"Bank owners have become obscenely richer – international wealth records have shown it – whereas lawful depositors suffer the inability to dispose of their lifetime earnings. It is a blatant rip-off."

When Hafez and Depositors' Outcry stormed the bank, they claimed they managed to get $12,000 and then $1,000 in Lebanese pounds of Hafez's alleged $20,000 savings.

One of the customers present at the bank at the time of the incident, named Nadine Nakhal, recalled the scene and described how she saw a woman demanding money from the bank's manager, threatening to shoot him with a pistol if they didn't comply.

According to Nakhal, the activist group also "doused gasoline everywhere inside, and took out a lighter and threatened to light it."

However, in a livestream on Facebook, Hafez said she 'did not break into the bank to kill anyone or set the place on fire'.

"I am here to get my rights," she continued.

Hafez has since been hailed a 'hero' on social media for her efforts in fighting to claim back her savings.

According to AP News reporter Kareem Chehayeb, Blom Bank has called the attack a 'premeditated operation with the intent to harm'.

However, the bank did not reveal in the statement whether or not it would be taking legal action against Hafez or the activist group - many of whom were arrested by security forces.

Leader of Depositors’ Outcry, Alaa Khorchid, argued that citizens don't have a choice but to 'take matters into their own hands' because 'there is no government, no economy recovery plan and little reserves left'.

He continued: "These people worked for decades, but not for the rulers to build palaces while they can’t afford a bottle of medicine."

Despite her frightening experience at the bank, Nakhal resolved: "We need to put a stop to everything that is happening to us in this country.

"Everyone’s money is stuck in the banks, and in this case, it’s someone who is sick. We need to find a solution."

If you've been affected by any of the issues in this story, you can find more information about where to get help from Turn2Us via their website.