Five robberies in one day: out of desperation, Lebanese rob their banks

A few days ago, a woman robbed a bank in Beirut in order to get money from her sister, who was suffering from cancer.

Five robberies in one day: out of desperation, Lebanese rob their banks

A few days ago, a woman robbed a bank in Beirut in order to get money from her sister, who was suffering from cancer. Like them, many Lebanese fear for their savings in the face of a severe economic crisis. Now there are more and more raids.

Given the difficult access to savings and their devaluation, bank robberies are increasing significantly in Lebanon. There were five cases on Friday alone, according to journalists from the AFP news agency. In many cases there are restrictions on access to bank account savings. Some savers therefore rob banks as an act of desperation.

Early in the morning, a man and his son stormed a bank in the southern city of Ghasiyeh, a security guard said. The father threatened the employees with what media reports said was a toy gun and demanded that they give him his savings. The bank robber eventually fled with around $19,000 in cash, but turned himself in to police shortly thereafter.

A few hours later, a tense situation erupted in the capital, Beirut. Witnesses reported that a shopkeeper who was in debt wanted to access his savings. The unarmed man holed himself up in the bank. In another part of the city, an armed man stormed a bank branch, local residents reported. Two other cases also occurred in Lebanon.

Given the frequency of bank robberies, the Lebanese interior minister called an emergency meeting "to take the necessary security measures." The Lebanese Banking Association also held an emergency meeting and ordered all bank branches to be closed for three days next week.

Critics accused the banks of acting like a cartel and siphoning large sums of money out of the country for senior Lebanese officials. Foreign transfers are already no longer possible for ordinary citizens.

A key Lebanese savings association expressed its support for the perpetrators, saying they were facing "injustice and oppression".

The snowball effect was probably triggered by a young woman on Wednesday who stole several thousand euros by robbing a bank in Beirut. In a live video of her robbery shared online, the activist said the approximately $13,000 in cash she stole was part of her sister's savings, who had cancer. According to reports, this was intended to continue their treatment. The young woman received a lot of support from the population for her deed.

Also on Wednesday, a man robbed a bank in the north-east of the capital, according to the state news agency NNA.

Since 2019, the people of Lebanon have been suffering from the worst economic crisis in the country's history. The national currency lost more than 90 percent of its value on the black market. Poverty and unemployment have recently increased significantly.

According to the World Bank, the Lebanese authorities had operated a Ponzi scheme with the deposits for the past few decades. Existing investors were paid out with money from new investors. The most important political and economic actors in the country would have benefited from this - to the private households.