An armed man holds employees of a Beirut bank hostage on Thursday August 11 to claim his savings of more than 200,000 dollars, the latest violent incident in a country ravaged by the economic crisis, security sources told AFP.
The Federal Bank bank branch near the busy Hamra Street was surrounded by an imposing security cordon at the start of the afternoon on Thursday, an AFP journalist noted.
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The angry user "
entered with a shotgun and flammable materials and threatened the employees to give him his savings
", explained one of these sources.
Another source said that the 40-year-old had "
spread gasoline, closed the door of the bank and held the employees hostage
".
According to the Lebanese news agency NNA, the man "
threatened to set himself on fire and kill everyone by pointing his pistol at the head of the agency director
".
A video posted online shows two negotiators asking the assailant - whom they call Bassam - to release two clients.
Brandishing his weapon and a cigarette, he categorically refuses to release his hostages.
Since 2019, Lebanon has been going through one of the worst socio-economic crises in the history of the world since 1850, according to the World Bank.
The national currency has lost more than 90% of its value and about 80% of the population has plunged into poverty, in particular due to the draconian banking restrictions which prevent them from having free access to their money.
Regularly, violent incidents break out between bank employees and exasperated savers.