MP Cynthia Zarazir stages bank sit-in to free trapped savings

MP Cynthia Zarazir stages bank sit-in to free trapped savings

A Lebanese lawmaker entered a bank branch unarmed on Wednesday with two of her lawyers to free trapped dollar deposits she needs to pay for surgery, her lawyer said.

Cynthia Zarazir, who was elected to parliament in May polls, is the latest in a growing number of angry depositors who are forcing Lebanese lenders to unlock savings trapped under informal capital controls imposed amid an unprecedented financial crisis.

Zarazir entered the Antelias branch of Byblos Bank at around 9 am to demand $8,500 to pay for surgery costs not covered by her health insurance, her lawyer Fouad Debs said from inside the bank.

"We will not leave until we get the money," Debs told AFP, nearly three hours after they entered the branch.

"I am a Lebanese citizen demanding my rights in light of this exceptional situation," Zarazir told the press and bystanders.

The lawyer Debs, who is also a member of legal and advocacy group the Depositors' Union, told The Associated Press that negotiations are ongoing, and that Zarazir has rejected a "ridiculous" proposal to withdraw her savings in Lebanese pounds at a fraction of its dollar value.

Debs, who alongside the Depositors' Union has tried to help depositors unlock their trapped savings, said that