A woman, Sali Hafiz, robbed Blom Bank in Beirut with a toy gun and walked out with thousands of dollars for her sister’s treatment in Lebanon on Wednesday.
Gatekeepers News reports that It was the latest in a series of heists in Lebanon, where the savings of depositors have been devalued and trapped in banks for almost three years amid a crippling economic crisis.
Sali Hafiz, a 28-year old activist and interior designer, streamed a live video on Facebook of the heist in which she was yelling at employees to release some money after sealing entrances to the bank.
She had tried to withdraw her money previously but was told by the branch manager that she could only get $200 per month. Her sister’s treatment costs $50,000.
“I am Sali Hafiz, I came today… to take the deposits of my sister who is dying in hospital,” she said in the video.
“I did not come to kill anyone or to start a fire… I came to claim my rights.”
In an interview with a Lebanese broadcaster after the raid, Hafiz said she got about $13,000 of the $20,000 deposit her family owned.
Gasoline had been poured inside the bank and they threatened to set the bank ablaze during the heist which was less than an hour.
Hafiz told media outlets she had used her nephew’s toy pistol for the raid.
Hafiz and suspected accomplices known as Depositors’ Outcry escaped through a smashed window at the back of the bank before security forces arrived.
She was still on the run, according to her relatives and they claim they have not had any contact with Hafiz.
Hafiz instantly turned into a folk hero on social media in Lebanon, where many are desperate to access their savings and furious at a banking sector perceived as a corrupt cartel.
Pictures and footage of her standing on a desk inside the bank carrying a gun went viral on social media.
“Thank you,” one Twitter user wrote. “Two weeks ago I cried at Blom Bank. I needed the money for a surgery. I am too weak to hold a gun and take what is mine.”
Also on Wednesday, a man was arrested for holding up a bank in the city of Aley northeast of Beirut, the official National News Agency reported.He was detained but swiftly released as it was not determined if he had taken some money or not.
Last month, a man used a rifle to hold customers and employees hostage for hours demanding some of his $200,000 in frozen savings to pay for his father’s hospital bills.
In January, a bank customer held people hostage in eastern Lebanon after he was told he could not withdraw his foreign currency savings.
Local media reported that the customer was eventually given some of his savings and surrendered to security forces.
Lebanon is experiencing its worst-ever economic crisis since 2019. Its currency has lost more than 90 percent of its value on the black market, while poverty and unemployment have soared.
See streamed video here:
