Furious Man With Shotgun And Petrol Bomb Takes 10 People Hostage Inside Bank Because He Was Not Allowed To Withdraw His Money To Pay Hospital Bills

An armed man demanding money frozen by his bank took five branch employees and one customer hostage.

Branch manager Hassan Halawi, who is among those being held, said the unpredictable gunman was "agitated" as he spoke from the office where he was hiding.

"I'm in my office. He (the hostage taker) gets agitated then calms down then gets agitated again," Halawi said by phone.

The man entered the Federal Bank of Lebanon branch in the Hamra neighborhood in west Beirut just before noon on Thursday armed with a firearm, the security source said.

They said: "He demanded access to around $200,000 he had in his bank account.

"When the employee refused the request, he began screaming that his relatives were in the hospital. Then he pulled out the gun," the source added.

Some bank customers managed to flee before he shut the doors on the rest, said the source.

Lebanese banks have limited withdrawals of hard currency for most depositors during the country's three-year financial meltdown, which has left more than three-quarters of the population struggling.

Hassan Mughnieh, the head of Lebanon's Depositors Association, said that he had been in touch with the hostage-taker and had relayed his demands to the bank's leadership and top Lebanese officials.

The stand-off eventually ended peacefully with no injuries, after negotiators struck an agreement allowing the suspect to receive $35,000 of his savings upfront, LBC TV channel reported.

Police escorted the hostages and suspect away from the Federal Bank branch near Hamra Street, in the west of the city. Officials have not yet said whether the man will face charges.

According to LBC, the suspect's family was in dire need of their savings, with some family members in the hospital.

The suspect's brother told journalists: "My brother has $210,000 in the bank and wants to get just $5,500 to pay hospital bills."

And his wife and brother, who were outside the bank, said that "everybody should do the same" to get access to what is "rightfully theirs".

There has been widespread anger in Lebanon over the strict controls over people's bank accounts, which came into force in 2019. There are also restrictions on transfers of money abroad.