Hundreds of pro-Palestine campaigners goal Barclays’ financial institution branches
- Demonstrators have organised a ‘day of motion’ in a number of cities throughout the UK
Hundreds of pro-Palestine demonstrators have descended on Barclays‘ branches throughout the UK to protest its alleged funding of Israel’s assaults.
Demonstrators have organised a ‘day of motion’ the place they’ll protest exterior 54 branches of the financial institution, demanding an finish to what they declare is Barclays ‘bankrolling’ Israel‘s assaults on Palestine.
Hundreds of campaigners have been seen chanting and waving flags as they marched previous a department on Northumberland Street in Newcastle.
Protestors have additionally gathered exterior a department on Kensington High Street in London holding banners urging a ceasefire and calling on the financial institution to ‘cease investing in Israel’s crime towards humanity’.
Branches in different main cities throughout the UK together with Leeds, Leicester, Nottingham, Brighton, Derby, and Ipswich have additionally been placed on excessive alert, with safety stated to have been stepped up at some areas.
NEWCASTLE: Hundreds of campaigners have been seen chanting and waving flags as they marched previous a Barclays department on Northumberland Street in Newcastle on Saturday
LONDON: A lady exterior a Barclays department on Kensington High Street in London holds a banner studying ‘Barclays Blood Money’ with the financial institution’s brand showing to be dripping in blood
LONDON: Other banners exterior the Kensington department known as for a cease to ‘Israel’s Gaza genocide’ and urged the financial institution to ‘cease investing in Israel’s crime towards humanity’
Europe’s largest Palestinian rights organisation, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), has known as on folks to boycott Barclays.
Its analysis states: ‘Barclays Bank holds over £1 billion in shares, and gives over £3 billion in loans and underwriting to 9 corporations whose weapons, parts, and navy know-how are being utilized by Israel in its assaults on Palestinians.
‘This contains General Dynamics, which produces the gun methods that arm the fighter jets utilized by Israel to bombard Gaza, and Elbit Systems, which produces armoured drones, munitions and artillery weapons utilized by the Israeli navy.
‘As Israel’s genocidal assault on Palestinians continues, take motion on Saturday, 27 January 2024 to demand Britain cease arming Israel.
‘Join an motion at a Barclays department demanding the financial institution stops bankrolling Israel’s assaults on Palestinians, and unfold the phrase about our name to boycott Barclays.’
The motion this weekend is described on its web site as: ‘As Israel’s genocidal assault on Palestinians continues, take motion on Saturday, 27 January 2024 to demand Britain cease arming Israel!
‘Barclays Bank holds substantial monetary ties with arms corporations supplying weapons and navy know-how to Israel, utilized in its assaults on Palestinians.
LONDON: A banner exterior the Barclays Kensington department urges for a ‘ceasefire now’ on January 27
LONDON: A person stood exterior a Barclays department in London holds a banner that reads: ‘Genocide: Proudly sponsored by Barclays’ on January 27
LONDON: Three folks maintain a banner exterior the Barclays Kensington department calling for a ceasefire on January 27
LONDON: Protestors have positioned carboard coffins exterior the Barclays Kensington department on January 27
‘Join an motion at a Barclays department demanding the financial institution stops bankrolling Israel’s assaults on Palestinians, and unfold the phrase about our name to boycott Barclays.
‘Barclays should #StopBankingOnGenocide and #StopBankingOnApartheid.’
A Barclays spokesperson stated it’s dedicated to respecting human rights and that it carries out enhanced due diligence within the defence and safety sector.
Ugly scenes at earlier protests have seen prospects of different high-street names be shouted at and verbally abused for coming into companies claimed as pro-Israel.
In October pro-Palestine activists in Birmingham emptied a field filled with mice right into a McDonald’s earlier than strolling off and shouting ‘f*** Israel’ – after the corporate supplied free meals to IDF troopers.
M&S has additionally confronted protests after conventional paper hats from crackers have been burned in an open hearth which activists claimed have been the colors of the Palestinian flag and insulting to its folks.
Previous weekends have seen police arrest some for terror offences and holding horrific pro-Nazi and anti-semitic indicators and slogans whereas on marches throughout London.
Barclays branches have been the scene of earlier protest motion when Just Stop Oil activists tremendous glued 50 ‘doorways shut’ and positioned posters on them in November.
NEWCASTLE: Protestors chant and wave flags as they march previous the Barclays’ flagship department on Northumberland Street on January 27
NEWCASTLE: Police officers have been seen standing within the entrance to the Northumberland Street department as demonstrators gathered exterior on January 27
NEWCASTLE: Pro-Palestine demonstrators descend on Barclays Bank to stage a protest in Newcastle metropolis centre on January 27
LONDON: Protestors maintain banners exterior the Kensington department known as for a cease to ‘Israel’s Gaza genocide’ and urged the financial institution to ‘cease investing in Israel’s crime towards humanity’
LONDON: A lady holds shouts right into a megaphone throughout a pro-Palestinian protest exterior a Barclays department in Kensington on January 27
LONDON: A cardboard coffin exterior a Barclays department in London reads: ‘Bombed and buried alive beneath rubble by the occupying IDF’ on January 27
One supply stated forward of as we speak’s motion: ‘There’s an actual concern it will trigger chaos. Barclays are prone to be upping safety because of this and the police can be conscious.
‘They [Barclays] are braced for motion. There’s concern they’ll copy Just Stop Oil and superglue the doorways. Or simply sit exterior and make life troublesome.’
A Barclays spokesperson stated: ‘Barclays is dedicated to respecting human rights as outlined by the International Bill of Human Rights and takes account of different internationally accepted human rights requirements and frameworks.
‘We have a broadcast assertion on defence and safety which units out our coverage positions and governs any enterprise actions within the sector, together with setting restrictions on sure financing actions and requiring enhanced due diligence as applicable on purchasers within the sector.’
‘As a common financial institution, Barclays gives a variety of shopper providers in relation to the shares of publicly listed corporations, together with these within the defence and safety sector.
‘Such client-driven actions could lead to Barclays holding shares in these corporations, for instance, by way of hedging positions, market making, custody and underwriting exercise.
‘Barclays doesn’t itself intend to make any direct strategic fairness investments within the defence and safety sector.’
The Palestine Solidarity Campaign has known as on a boycott of Barclays Bank
Pro-Palestinian activists protest in entrance of Barclays headquarters in Paris, France on January 15, 2024
Extinction Rebellion activists ‘glued shut’ round 50 Barclays banks in November
A lady holds a doll representing a useless youngster as demonstrators pause exterior Barclays financial institution in central Newcastle throughout a pro-Palestine march on January 20
Displaced Palestinians, who fled their properties as a result of Israeli strikes, shelter in a tent camp in Rafah, amid the continuing battle between Israel and Hamas on January 3
Smoke rises over the Gaza Strip because the conflict continues into its fourth month
Protests towards Israel’s heavy bombing marketing campaign have been frequent throughout the UK in latest months because the nation faces growing criticism for the numbers of civilians killed and wounded within the preventing.
The unprecedented demise and destruction has led South Africa to accuse Israel of genocide in a case filed with the International Court of Justice, allegations Israel has strongly denied and vowed to contest.
South Africa introduced the case to name for an instantaneous suspension of the invasion of Gaza earlier this month with claims some 25,000 have been killed.
Israel responded by presenting footage of the Hamas terror assault on October 7 to argue it was itself the sufferer of an tried genocide and has a proper to defend itself.
But worldwide observers query the dimensions of the response in Gaza that has seen over 80 per cent of the inhabitants displaced, cities decreased to rubble, and a humanitarian disaster unfold.
