A young woman ready for anything
This Wednesday, September 14 promised to be another slow day at Sodeco Square, a shopping center in Beirut: since 2019, many shops have closed there as a result of the economic and financial crisis affecting Lebanon. It was on that day that Sali Hafez chose to force the door of the Blom Bank, located on the street. Gasoline was doused at the scene, witnesses said. Standing on a desk facing petrified employees, the young woman dressed in black brandishes a revolver. “I came today (…) to collect the money from my sister who is dying in the hospital,” she says in a video of the robbery that she broadcasts live on social networks. Just over $13,000 – of the 20,000 detained with his sister – is handed over to him. Sali flees. She will later assure that her pistol was a toy borrowed from her nephew.
A Beirut woman on the run
Sali Hafez, 28, grew up in Beirut, where she lives. The interior designer works as a freelancer but hasn’t had any projects for two months and is in debt. ” She belongs to a large and united family, from a family that lived comfortably before the crisis,” said one of his friends. But the clan has been facing colossal expenses since the discovery, seven months ago, of cancer in Zeina, one of Sali’s sisters. His family even had to sell property to pay for the emergency operation, but the sums necessary for the treatment are impossible to withdraw: the banks have been imposing drastic restrictions on customer accounts since 2019, without a legal framework. Shortly before her radical gesture, Sali had said she was ready to die so that Zeina could be cured. Now on the run, the young woman has maintained contact with her lawyers.
The cry of a collective
Two associations, The Cry of depositors (which Sali had recently joined) and Moutahidoun, claimed responsibility for organizing the punch operation. Indeed, before taking action, Sali consulted with these activists as well as a lawyer. “Sali was very determined”, said a member of one such group. The 28-year-old interior designer is known for her commitment: she demonstrated with the families of victims of the double explosion at the port of Beirut, with savers… During the fall of 2019, Sali Hafez participated in the vast protest movement against the political class in the heart of the capital.
A popular heroine
The robbery led by Sali Hafez to ” claim [s]are rights” aroused the sympathy of many Lebanese. The fate of his sister Zeina is moving. The Lebanese recognize themselves in the humiliation and despair described by Sali in the face of the obstruction of the banks. Before her, two savers, armed with a real weapon, had stormed their bank branch to get their money. Since then, five similar heists have taken place on September 16. Several groups of depositors are campaigning for fairer rules to be found for individuals: these groups are considering actions in front of bankers’ homes. But the authorities have promised to toughen the response, and the banks, which denounce these hostage-takings, intend to barricade themselves further.