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A hostage standoff from a gunman demanding that a bank in Beirut let him withdraw his trapped savings ended with the man surrendering unhurt.
Authorities said Bassam Sheikh Hussein, 42, entered a branch of the Federal Bank with a shotgun and a can of gasoline and threatened to set himself on fire unless he was allowed to take out his money.
One official said he took as many as 10 bank workers and customers hostage and fired three warning shots.
After hours of negotiations, he accepted the bank’s offer to take part of the deposits, according to local media and a group of depositors involved in the negotiations.
He then released the hostages and surrendered.
During the standoff, dozens of protesters gathered in the city’s busy Hamra district, chanting slogans against the Lebanese government and banks, hoping the gunman would receive his savings. Some onlookers called him a hero.
Hussein has $210,000 (£171,000) stuck in the bank and has been struggling to withdraw his money to pay for his father’s medical bills, said Hassan Moghnieh, head of the Lebanese Depositors Association, which was involved in the negotiations. .
The country’s cash-strapped banks have imposed strict restrictions on withdrawing foreign currency assets, tying up the savings of millions.
Lebanon is suffering from the worst economic crisis in its modern history. Three-quarters of the population fell into poverty, and the Lebanese pound lost more than 90 percent of its value against the dollar.
“What caused us to have this situation was the failure of the state to address this economic crisis and the actions of the banks and central banks, people were only able to get back some of their money as if it were weekly pocket money,” said lawyer Dina Abou Zor said with the Depositors Coalition, an advocacy group among the protesters. “This leads people to take matters into their own hands.”
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