Lebanon’s economic crisis is pushing families to the brink

Lebanon’s economic crisis is pushing families to the brink

Bassam al-Sheikh Hussein was desperate. With mounting debts and medical bills for his ailing father, Hussein needed access to the $209,000 he kept in a savings account in Lebanon’s Federal Bank. But, like most Lebanese trapped in theKafkaesque nightmare of their country’s financial collapse, his funds have been frozen for more than two years, with monthly withdrawals capped at the equivalent of $400 — hardly enough for his family to survive on.

Lately, according to Hussein, the west Beirut branch of his bank had been withholding even that paltry monthly allowance, despite his remonstrations. After another argument with the branch manager on August 12, Hussein went to his car, brought out a rifle and a canister of gasoline, and held six people hostage, demanding the release of his funds.

Mobile phone footage of the incident spread rapidly on social media. Many were quick to endorse the actions of a man whose anger they shared — seeing him as more Robin Hood than Clyde Barrow, driven to desperate measures by an entrenched ruling class that has yet to implement a road map for recovery.

As police arrived on the scene, dozens of people massed outside, turning the hold-up into a full-blown protest against Lebanon’s