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Lebanese Depositor Demanding $150,000 Leaves Bank With Money, Association Says

CAIRO, (Sputnik) - An armed Lebanese depositor, who had broken into a bank to demand the withdrawal of $150,000 from his own savings account, has left a Bankmed branch with money, the Depositors' Outcry Association said on Thursday.
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On Thursday, the gun-toting depositor stormed Bankmed's branch in the city of Nabatieh in southern Lebanon and demanded that $150,000 be returned from his deposit. The man also threatened to commit suicide if the money was not returned to him.
"Depositor Badr al-Din has left the bank after receiving $11,000 and the rest of the deposit in Lebanese pounds," the association said.
According to the MTV broadcaster, Lebanese banks will be closed on Friday in protest against renewed attacks on branches by depositors.
Lebanese banks reopened on September 26 following their one-week closure triggered by bank run by depositors violently seeking access to their savings.
For several weeks, Lebanese depositors have been demanding that banks return their savings after Lebanon's government imposed a strict capital control on lenders across the country, limiting the amount of dollars that could be withdrawn. At the same time, banks could withdraw dollars only after exchanging them into Lebanese pounds at a rate far lower than the one in the black market.
At least four attempts of a bank hold-up took place this week in Lebanon, with two of them involving armed people.
Cash-strapped Lebanon has been mired in economic and political crises since 2019 when its financial system caved in under the weight of decades of economic mismanagement and corruption.
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