People in Lebanon are robbing banks and staging sit-ins to access their own savings
Lebanon's banks froze accounts three years ago amid an economic collapse. Now, under increasingly desperate circumstances, people are resorting to extreme measures to access their savings accounts.
by Ruth Sherlock
Dec 17, 2022
4 minutes
TRIPOLI, Lebanon — On a recent weekday in Lebanon's second-largest city, the atmosphere at a branch of the IBL Bank is tense. Security and police are gathered outside. Soldiers are clutching M16 rifles. People are crowding the entrance.
Inside, Zahra Khaled, a 53-year-old in a wheelchair who's in urgent need of medical care, is refusing to leave until she is given her savings. The bank has frozen all of it — tens of thousands of dollars. After selling personal possessions and exhausting all other options, she and her adult daughter have now entered the bank and will not budge.
Lebanon's banks froze
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