Activists smash windows and throw red paint over bank branches in London, Bristol and Manchester because of its ‘links to Israel’s arms and fossil fuel trade’

By Emily Jane Davies

11:29 10 June 2024, updated 19:46 10 June 2024

Pro-Palestinian protesters targeted 20 Barclays in the UK, smashing windows and throwing red paint over the bank’s branches in London, Bristol and Manchester.

The images show that all the windows of a branch in Bristol city center were vandalized and graffiti sprayed over them in the coordinated attack.

Posting on X, Palestine Action claimed to have “shut down 20 Barclays branches” in England and Scotland with their antics.

The group said it took action to “demand the bank’s withdrawal from Israel’s arms and fossil fuel trade.”

A spokesman for Palestine Action said: “Barclays is funding the crises of climate collapse and genocide in Palestine.

“Decades of polite campaigns, petitions, letters and lobbying MPs have failed.

“We will continue to escalate until Barclays pulls its finger out and stops funding genocide and climate destruction.

YOUR Barclays. local closed after being targeted? Email [email protected]

In Bristol, bank branch windows were smashed and red paint was sprayed over the property.

Meanwhile, in the Scottish capital Edinburgh, stones inscribed with the names of Palestinians killed in the conflict were thrown into windows.

The City of London Police said three men, aged between 34 and 45, were arrested in connection with criminal damage at Barclays on Moorgate this morning.

A post on X by the force read: “They were seen on CCTV by our control and officers were sent to the scene. After a brief foot chase, three men were taken into custody.

Other branches targeted include Stockport and Bury in Greater Manchester, Preston in Lancashire and St John’s Wood, Westminster and Croydon in London.

Activists also spray-painted the names of Palestinians killed in Israeli military action in Gaza on the walls of the Barclays branch.

A Barclays spokesman said: “We provide vital financial services to public companies in the US, UK and Europe that supply defense products to NATO and its allies.

“Barclays does not invest directly in these companies.

“The defense sector is fundamental to our national security and the UK Government has been clear that supporting defense companies is compatible with ESG considerations.

“Decisions regarding the implementation of arms embargoes to other nations are the responsibility of the respective elected governments.

“While we support the right to protest, we ask that activists do so in a way that respects our customers, colleagues and property.”

Palestine Action is a protest group that targets businesses and institutions that have ties to Israel.

Their website states that their goal is to support Palestine through direct action.

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Their page states that they are using direct action, factory occupations and other disruptions to “shut down companies fueling Israeli war crimes.”

Last week, a Barclays branch in Bolton had its windows smashed and red paint thrown over and inside the building, with police at the scene.

Palestine Action claimed the attack, along with another from Bradford, saying Barclays was “pulling out of Israel’s largest arms firm, Elbit Systems”.

The group, which was formed in 2020, has been highly disruptive and in its first year the group boasted of causing “£15,930,000 in losses, damages and increased costs” to firms it considers complicit in the Israeli occupation of Palestine .

Since their establishment, the group has successfully occupied the headquarters of major businesses, including Elbit, a manufacturer of defense electronic systems.

They also staged a mass protest in 2021 at the Liverpool Arms Fair, where activists used fire extinguishers to spray red paint over the ACC Exhibition Centre.

Earlier this year, a pro-Palestinian protester sprayed and slashed Cambridge University’s historic painting of British statesman Lord Balfour, who paved the way for a Jewish state in the Middle East.

Palestine Action shared a video of a demonstrator destroying the portrait and spraying it with red paint.

A woman was seen in the footage cutting the painting with a sharp object before spraying paint from a can over Balfour’s face.

The pro-Palestine Action Group has also partnered with Shut the System, a recently launched underground climate movement.

On their social media, the group provided more details about the protests.

Along with a picture of a bag of stones with the son’s name on them, they posted on X, the former Twitter: “Shareholders threw stones marked with the names of Palestinian martyrs at Barclays in Edinburgh, investors in Israel’s biggest arms firm, Elbit Systems .

The protests sparked protests on social media.

One user wrote: “Palestine Action says it targeted twenty Barclays.

— Bank branches throughout the country. This is not just vandalism, it is, quite frankly, domestic terrorism. They have become so reckless since they think they are above the law. Palestine Acton must be banned.

Another called for tougher action against the protesters and described their attacks on bank branches as “a threat to civil society and the rule of law”.