BEIRUT — A Lebanese lawmaker entered a bank
branch, accompanied by lawyers, and freed more than $8,000 in trapped dollar
deposits on Wednesday to pay for surgery, her lawyer said.
اضافة اعلان
Cynthia Zarazir, who was elected to parliament in
May, is the latest in a growing number of angry depositors who have forced
Lebanese lenders to unlock savings trapped under informal capital controls
imposed in the face of an unprecedented financial crisis.
Zarazir, unarmed but with legal cover, entered her
bank branch in a northern suburb of Beirut at around 9am to demand $8,500 to
pay for surgery costs not covered by her health insurance, her lawyer Fouad
Debs said.
She exited hours later after the bank paid her the
sum in cash, Debs and the official National News Agency said.
Several activists had gathered outside the bank to
support Zarazir, whose plight echoes that of the many Lebanese who have been
locked out of their savings by bank restrictions that have tightened since the
start of the country’s financial crash in 2019.
Commercial lenders have effectively banned most
foreign currency transactions, forcing depositors to withdraw their savings in
the plummeting Lebanese pound, which has lost more than 95 percent of its value
against the dollar on the black market.
‘Not beggars’
Also on Wednesday, a retired
member of Lebanon’s Internal Security Forces stormed a bank in Beirut’s
southern suburbs to demand access to $48,000 in dollar savings as well as 270
million Lebanese pounds from his pension.
He was unarmed.
“After negotiations with the bank’s management, he
managed to get all his Lebanese pound deposits and $3,000” in trapped dollar
savings, said Ibrahim Abdullah, a spokesman for the Depositors Union advocacy
group.
Meanwhile, dozens of protesters gathered outside the
central bank headquarters in Beirut to demand access to their money, amid a
heavy troop deployment.
“We came to claim our rights,” said protester
Houssam Machmouchi, 42.
“We are not beggars, we just want our money.”
On Tuesday, a
retired diplomat and honorary consul of Ireland, Georges Siam, carried out an
all-day sit-in at a bank in the suburbs of Beirut to recover his savings before
eventually reaching a compromise.
Almost simultaneously, at least two other armed bank
heists took place in separate branches.
They included one by a retired policeman who held up
a bank in eastern Lebanon to demand a money transfer to his son in Ukraine to
help pay for rent and university tuition.
Lebanon’s banks closed for a week after a series of
heists on September 16. They have since reopened amid tight security.
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