20 Barclays branches in the UK have been vandalized in a coordinated effort by anti-Israel activists

Three Barclays branches in London were defaced with red paint and their windows smashed as part of a coordinated effort by pro-Palestinian protesters.

Branches in St John’s Wood, Croydon and Moorgate were all damaged as part of a wider targeting campaign which saw 20 Barclays locations across the country vandalized on Monday.

Protest groups Palestine Action and Shut the System claimed responsibility for the synchronized stunt, saying the bank was targeted because of its “investment in genocide”.

The two groups’ collaboration to demand “divestment from Israel’s arms and fossil fuel trade” has left the bank “broken”, they claim.

Activists also threw stones with the names of “Palestinian martyrs” at the British bank’s wealth and investment management office in Edinburgh.

The PA wrote on X/Twitter: “When will the bank stop financing genocide and respect Palestinian lives, homes, schools, hospitals, universities and land?”

Three men aged between 34 and 45 have reportedly been arrested in connection with “criminal damage” after the Moorgate branch was sprayed with red paint. The men were seen on CCTV and taken into custody following a short foot chase.

The same branch was cordoned off early last month after it was sprayed with red paint by pro-Palestinian activists. In May and February, graffiti accusing Barclays of “funding the deaths of 13,000 children” was splashed across the bank’s entrance.

The St John’s Wood location saw its front windows and glass doors smashed and red paint splattered across the front and ATMs.

The branch in Croydon’s north side was also hit in April by graffiti with the words ‘baby killers’ and its floor-to-ceiling windows smashed.

Other Barclays locations, such as those in Bristol and Bury, were targeted on Monday.

The bank’s annual shareholder meeting in May was also disrupted by activists chanting “blood on your hands”.

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 has carried out several disruptive stunts since October to demonstrate against factories it accuses of making components for weapons used by Israel. In March, an activist belonging to the group destroyed a more than 100-year-old painting of Lord Arthur Balfour hanging in Trinity College Cambridge.

In May, the government’s adviser on political violence, Lord Walney, recommended a new category to ban “extreme protest groups” such as Palestine Action.