A gunman who held 10 other people hostage inside of a Lebanese financial institution with the intention to get admission to his personal financial savings has became himself into police on Thursday after an seven-hour standoff. No person used to be injured right through the ordeal.
Bassam al-Sheikh Hussein, a food-delivery driving force, stated he had to withdraw his cash to pay for his father’s clinical expenses.
On Thursday, the 42-year-old entered a Federal Financial institution department in Beirut with a shotgun and a jerrycan of gas. He had round $210,000 (€204,000) deposited there, consistent with his circle of relatives.
Within, Hussein held seven or 8 team of workers hostage, plus two consumers, and demanded get admission to to his financial savings. One safety supply informed the AFP information company that he additionally poured the gas “far and wide the financial institution.”
Financial institution withdrawals limited
Lebanon is in the course of a critical financial disaster — the rustic’s worst in fashionable historical past. Crucial items are briefly provide, whilst a plummeting native foreign money has led banks to impose tight restrictions on withdrawals.
Armed guy who held workers hostage at a financial institution in Lebanon’s capital Beirut hailed as a hero percent.twitter.com/1Mru4PzhID
— TRT International Now (@TRTWorldNow) August 12, 2022
Lenders have additionally avoided consumers from moving cash out of the country.
“What led us to this case is the state’s failure to get to the bottom of this financial disaster and the banks’ and Central Financial institution’s movements, the place other people can simplest retrieve a few of their very own cash as though it’s a weekly allowance,” stated Abou Zour, who’s with the criminal advocacy workforce the Depositors’ Union is representing the gunman and his circle of relatives.
“This has ended in other people taking issues into their very own palms,” he added.
Gunman hailed a ‘hero’
Outdoor the financial institution, supporters of Hussein accumulated to protest in opposition to the rustic’s dire financial state of affairs. Some even referred to as him a hero.
BREAKING: Video of hostage state of affairs in #Lebanon at a significant financial institution in downtown Beirut. An armed guy is preserving financial institution team of workers till they unencumber his deposits, he says are $210,000: percent.twitter.com/xG9A9H3Yl8
— Joyce Karam (@Joyce_Karam) August 11, 2022
“My brother isn’t a scoundrel. He’s a good guy. He’s taking what he has from his personal pocket to offer to others,” Hussein’s brother Atef stated right through the standoff.
Hussein’s spouse, Mariam Chehadi, informed journalists outdoor the financial institution that her husband “did what he needed to do.”
After hours of negotiations, Hussein’s attorney stated he agreed to obtain $35,000 of his financial savings and hand himself over to police.
“Identical incidents stay taking place,” stated George al-Hajj, head of Lebanon’s financial institution worker’s union. “We’d like an intensive resolution.”
“Depositors need their cash, and sadly their anger explodes within the face of financial institution workers as a result of they can’t succeed in the control,” he added.
