Family of man who held up Beirut bank stages protest
Bassam al-Sheikh Hussein took hostages at gunpoint to get his own money out of the bank. Many Lebanese, who are unable to access their savings amid the economic crisis, called him a hero.
The family of the man who held up a Beirut bank is protesting his detention. The issue is representative of the financial toll Lebanon’s economic crisis is taking on the people.
Bassam al-Sheikh Hussein entered Federal Bank in downtown Beirut yesterday armed with a gun. He held people hostage and claimed he had $210,000 in the bank and needed to pay for his father’s medical bills. After several hours, he left with $35,000 and was arrested.
Today, members of his family protested and blocked a road in Beirut’s Ouzai neighborhood in opposition to his detention.
"It’s our right and our blood. We’re not gonna open the road,” Hussein’s mother told Al Jadeed News.
