Current Events > woman held up bank to withdraw own money for sister's cancer treatment

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https://twitter.com/itsrichhoblyn/status/1570086753481940994

Sali Hafiz said she stormed the bank to help pay for her sisters cancer treatment. Its the latest incident of people holding up banks to withdraw their savings in crisis hit Lebanon.

A Lebanese woman stormed a local bank branch waving a plastic gun so she could withdraw $13,000 of her own savings in Beirut on Wednesday morning, saying it was to pay for her sisters cancer treatment.

It is the latest in a string of hostage-taking incidents this year in Lebanon where people have threatened bank staff with violence in order to access their own money.

People in Lebanon are only allowed to withdraw around $200 to $400 per month because of limits set by the banks, barely enough to cover basic necessities.

Lebanon continues to struggle with an economic meltdown that has plunged three-quarters of the population into poverty.

The woman, Sali Hafiz, leapt onto the counter and demanded her savings after storming the bank with men from a group calling itself the Depositors Outcry Association.

Video of the incident was shared widely on social media in Lebanon, which shows Hafiz pulling out a pistol as the men argue with the bank employees. Bank workers can be seen hurriedly counting out bank notes and handing over a bundle of US dollar bills to Hafiz.

Hafiz live-streamed the video on Facebook, saying, I did not break into the bank to kill anyone or set the place on fire. I am here to get my rights. In an interview with local broadcaster Al Jadeed News, she said that the weapon was a toy gun she had borrowed from her nephew.

She also said that the bank left her without a choice, and that she took out the money for her sisters medical expenses, who needs treatment for cancer. She claimed that she had previously asked the bank for money but had been told she could only get hold of the $200 monthly allowance.

Hafiz is yet to be arrested by Lebanese security forces.

Wednesdays incident comes only a month after Bassam al-Sheikh Hussein held up a Beirut bank, and was subsequently hailed a local hero. He was briefly arrested but never faced criminal charges. Hussein also needed the money to pay for cancer treatment, in that instance for his father, and took over $35,000 of his savings after an hours-long siege, in which he threatened hostages with a rifle and a tank of gasoline.

The state-run news agency National News Agency of Lebanon reported Wednesdays story differently, saying that Hafiz poured gasoline on herself and threatened to set herself on fire if staff failed to give her $20,000 from her savings account.

Hafiz posted on her personal Facebook account after the siege, saying she was going to Turkey. She wrote: The whole government is under my house, and Im at the airport, see you all in Istanbul, Ciao!

https://www.vice.com/amp/en/article/3adpnn/sali-hafiz-beirut-bank

Sometimes the rules are wrong tbh

Even in America they make it hard to take your money out

Just like John Q!

Fair, next.

bump

Fuck the banks there tbh. That's a shit rule

I feel sorry for the bank workers in this scenario, but fuck the banks.

When an institutional system is showing collapse, the people will find ways to inform the public that the system is not holding up it's end of agreements.

g0ldie posted...

People in Lebanon are only allowed to withdraw around $200 to $400 per month because of limits set by the banks, barely enough to cover basic necessities.

Why is that a rule?

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]

By law, they're supposed to keep at least 10% of the money on hand across the sum of all accounts. But I think a lot of them actually don't and just borrow money from other banks just to have it on hand for when the government comes by for inspection, and then pays them back afterwards lol

why do they have such low withdrawl limits in place?

bump

Slayerblade11 posted...

why do they have such low withdrawl limits in place?

to stop a bank run. in times of crisis people will often attempt to withdraw their money. if the bank has no money to pay its debts, the bank will collapse, more job losses, byebye all of the money etc. Most countries allow banks to do this.

xGhostchantx posted...

to stop a bank run. in times of crisis people will often attempt to withdraw their money. if the bank has no money to pay its debts, the bank will collapse, more job losses, byebye all of the money etc. Most countries allow banks to do this.

Most don't have such a low limit though

Well, damn.

g0ldie posted...

People in Lebanon are only allowed to withdraw around $200 to $400 per month because of limits set by the banks, barely enough to cover basic necessities.

How much are their politicians allowed to withdraw each month? Id bet its more than this. Weird how there are different rules for the elite class and the working class huh?