Lebanese gunman holds financial institution workers hostage to entry his financial savings

A gunman who held 10 individuals hostage inside a Lebanese financial institution with a view to entry his personal financial savings has turned himself into police on Thursday after an seven-hour standoff. Nobody was injured in the course of the ordeal.

Bassam al-Sheikh Hussein, a food-delivery driver, stated he wanted to withdraw his cash to pay for his father’s medical payments.

On Thursday, the 42-year-old entered a Federal Bank department in Beirut with a shotgun and a jerrycan of gasoline. He had round $210,000 (€204,000) deposited there, based on his household.

Inside, Hussein held seven or eight workers hostage, plus two prospects, and demanded entry to his financial savings. One safety supply informed the AFP information company that he additionally poured the gasoline “all over the bank.”

Bank withdrawals restricted

Lebanon is within the midst of a extreme financial disaster — the nation’s worst in fashionable historical past. Essential items are briefly provide, whereas a plummeting native forex has led banks to impose tight restrictions on withdrawals.

Armed man who held workers hostage at a financial institution in Lebanon’s capital Beirut hailed as a hero pic.twitter.com/1Mru4PzhID

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Lenders have additionally prevented prospects from transferring cash abroad.

“What led us to this situation is the state’s failure to resolve this economic crisis and the banks’ and Central Bank’s actions, where people can only retrieve some of their own money as if it’s a weekly allowance,” stated Abou Zour, who’s with the authorized advocacy group the Depositors’ Union is representing the gunman and his household.

“This has led to people taking matters into their own hands,” he added.

Gunman hailed a ‘hero’

Outside the financial institution, supporters of Hussein gathered to protest towards the nation’s dire financial scenario. Some even referred to as him a hero.

BREAKING: Video of hostage scenario in #Lebanon at a serious financial institution in downtown Beirut. An armed man is holding financial institution workers till they launch his deposits, he says are $210,000: pic.twitter.com/xG9A9H3Yl8

— Joyce Karam (@Joyce_Karam) August 11, 2022

“My brother is not a scoundrel. He is a decent man. He takes what he has from his own pocket to give to others,” Hussein’s brother Atef stated in the course of the standoff.

Hussein’s spouse, Mariam Chehadi, informed reporters outdoors the financial institution that her husband “did what he had to do.”

After hours of negotiations, Hussein’s lawyer stated he agreed to obtain $35,000 of his financial savings and hand himself over to police.

“Similar incidents keep happening,” stated George al-Hajj, head of Lebanon’s financial institution worker’s union. “We need a radical solution.”

“Depositors want their money, and unfortunately their anger explodes in the face of bank employees because they cannot reach the management,” he added.