Pro-Palestine protesters block Barclays branches

Pro-Palestine protesters blockaded several Barclays stores on Saturday as they demonstrated against the company’s financial links to Israel.

The protesters called for customers to close their accounts due to the company offering banking services to arms manufacturers and other businesses associated with Israel.

Some stores shut their doors completely, whilst others were able to stay open thanks to the efforts of security and police.

The Palestine Solidarity Campaign, which organised the protests, stated: “Barclays is bankrolling Israel’s genocidal assault on Palestinians through its substantial financial ties with arms companies that sell weapons to Israel.

“Our research has found that Barclays invests over £2 billion in, and provides financial services worth £6.1 billion to, companies arming Israel.”

Protests have taken place at Barclays stores sporadically since October 7th 2023 due to the resultant military action taken by Israel in Gaza.

Yesterday, stores in London, Brighton, Coventry, Leeds, Oxford and Glasgow all saw protests staged outside

Protesters held banners calling for “Palestine to be freed” whilst counter-protesters displayed banners stating that “Hamas are terrorists”.

Barclays has defended its policy of offering banking services to businesses in the weapons and defence industry.

A spokesman for the bank said: “Barclays is committed to respecting human rights as defined by the International Bill of Human Rights and takes account of other internationally accepted human rights standards and frameworks.

“We have a published statement on defence and security which sets out our policy positions and governs any business activities in the defence and security sector, including setting restrictions on certain financing activities and requiring enhanced due diligence as appropriate on clients in the sector.

“As a universal bank, Barclays provides a range of client services in relation to the shares of publicly listed companies, including those in the defence and security sector.”