An armed man is holding bank employees and customers hostage in Beirut. He threatens to set himself on fire if he is not allowed to withdraw his savings. The man would need that money to pay his father’s hospital bills.
Bassam al-Sheikh Hussein, 42, walked into a branch of the Federal Bank around noon today in the Lebanese capital armed and with a can of petrol. He allegedly fired three warning shots. According to local authorities, there are still five bank employees in the bank and one customer. They are taken hostage by Hussein. In the meantime, the man is said to have released one elderly hostage. Soldiers and agents have sealed off the area around the bank and are negotiating with the gunman.
According to the AP news agency, one of the people who managed to flee the bank just before the hostage situation reports that the desperate Lebanese is asking the bank for $2,000 to withdraw. He would use it to pay his father’s hospital bills. A source reports to the news agency that the man has deposited about $ 200,000 at the bank, but that he cannot directly access that account. He asked for access to the $200,000 he has in his bank account. When the bank employee refused, the man started shouting that his relatives are in the hospital. Then he grabbed his weapon.”
Branch manager Hassan Halawi is one of the hostages. He spoke on the phone with Reuters news agency. “I’m in my office. He (the hostage-taker, ed.) keeps getting excited, then calms down, only to get excited again.
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Brother
Hussein’s brother Atef, like many others, has gathered at the bank in the Hamra district. He tells AP that his brother will surrender if the bank gives him the money. “My brother is not a criminal. He is a decent man,” said Atef al-Sheikh Hussein. “He takes the money out of his own pocket to give it to others.”
Videos of the hostage-taking are circulating on social media. It shows how a bearded man in shorts and with a gun in his hand walks around the bank. He asks for his money. Another video shows officers asking him to release a hostage, which he refuses at the time.
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Withdrawal Limits
Lebanon has been going through difficult economic times for years and three quarters of the population lives in poverty. Since 2019, the commercial banks in the country have imposed strict withdrawal limits, but according to the AP news agency, they say they sometimes want to make an exception for humanitarian reasons. However, that rarely happens.
Dozens of protesters have since gathered at the bank. They are shouting slogans against the Lebanese banks and government and hope that Bassam al-Sheikh Hussein will get the necessary part of his savings.
Last January, a Lebanese coffee shop owner withdrew $50,000 after holed up in a bank and threatened to kill the bank employees held hostage.
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