By Houda Mzioudet.
Tripoli, 14 July 2013:
The doors of Sirte banks were locked today in protest at the recent spate of bank . . .[restrict]robberies and what is seen as the deteriorating security in the town.
Two of the town’s banks – the Bank of North Africa and the Jumhouria Bank – have been robbed at gunpoint in the last fortnight. In total, over LD 500,000 was taken.
Managers and employees staged protests outside the locked doors of their banks. “They are asking the Libyan police and army to protect them against armed militias that are carrying out these robberies,” commander of the military zone of Sirte, Salah Abu Haligha, told the Libya Herald.
The banks called upon the Battalion of Zawiya Martyrs to ensure that Sirte’s banks have adequate security, said Haligha, adding: “We have responded to their plea.”
Haligha put the town’s security issues down to poverty, the proliferation of weapons and disaffected youth. “A lot of people have weapons. Others had their houses destroyed during the Libyan revolution and others live in utter poverty.” [/restrict]
