Renewed wave of bank heists sweeps cash-strapped Lebanon

Trying to forcibly recover their own money, two depositors – armed with bottles of petrol – held up a bank in Lebanon on Thursday. They didn’t succeed, however. It was at least the fourth such bank raid this week as the Lebanese get more desperate to access their own savings.

The depositors are often aided by a network called the Depositors’ Outcry and a legal coalition called Moutahidoun. To date, none of those behind the heists have been convicted. And none of the incidents have resulted in violence.

Controversial Measures Restricting Citizens’ Access To Their Own Savings

Hundreds of thousands of Lebanese saw their savings getting trapped in 2019 at the onset of Lebanon’s prolonged financial crisis. With the foreign reserves severely depleted and dollars scarce, banks swiftly imposed controversial controls to prevent folding.

The measures stopped the outflow of money from Lebanon and strongly restricted the citizens’ access to their own savings. “I refuse to believe my savings are lost,” Alaa Khourchid, president and founder of the Depositors’ Outcry Association, told The National.

He doesn’t want the ordinary depositors to suffer, saying they have nothing to do with the economic crisis and that there has been no accountability for the people behind the issue. The association has since been helping citizens plan and coordinate the hold-ups.

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Banks Going On Strikes To Prevent Hold-ups

Both Depositors’ Outcry and Moutahidoun maintain their actions aren’t illegal, depending on Article 184 of Lebanon’s penal code that allows its citizens to use force in case of self-defence or protecting one’s own savings.

Although it’s not the only one helping Lebanese with bank raids, the Depositors’ Outcry is arguably the most infamous organised group for encouraging others to take action. Banks have gone on strike several times to put an end to the wave of hold-ups.