Activists from Extinction Rebellion Bristol (XR Bristol) have staged a sit-down protest at Barclays bank in Broadmead. The demonstration this afternoon (Monday, November 14) is part of national action taken over the last 24 hours, with thousands of XR Activists targeting more than 110 branches of Barclays around the country.
They say they want to draw attention to the bank's investment in fossil fuel extraction and encourage its customers to switch to a more ethical bank. The week-long protest follows Barclays' announcement of much higher than expected pre-tax profits for the quarter of nearly £2bn.
Higher interest rates have helped increase Barclays’ profits, whilst the cost of living over the same period has soared. Activist Richard Baxter, 61, from Redland said: “I am terrified of what is happening to the world as a result of climate change, but so many people I speak to feel powerless to act, wondering what they could possibly do in the face of inaction by our leaders.
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"Well, there are simple things that everyone can do to take back their power. Barclays Bank is using their customer’s money, your money, to invest in fossil fuel extraction around the world.
"This needs to stop right now. So, if you bank with Barclays you can do your bit to combat climate change through simply switching to a more ethical bank”.
Activist Nigel Shipley, 68, added: “If the UK banking sector was a country, it would be the world’s 9th biggest polluter. We need to put pressure on politicians to take urgent action on the climate emergency through the ballot box, but we can also put pressure on organisations who fund the crisis through who we do and do not trust to look after our hard-earned cash.
"We are in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis that is driven by the climate crisis. We will all be better off if we stopped places like Barclays investing in things that make our lives worse."
XR Bristol began action yesterday (Sunday) when 'Rebels' pasted a billboard in St Werburghs and distributed stickers around the city. Today a choir of activists grabbed the attention of passing shoppers with songs about Barclays and climate change, and more action is planned later in the week.
They said their protest today would conclude with a sit-down protest inside the branch. Images shared by the group on Twitter just before 4pm showed a protester sitting down holding an XR flag and a poster that reads: "This is an intervention." Another held a hand-written placard saying: "Divest now."
Responding to protests elsewhere, a Barclays spokesperson quoted by Chronicle Live said: “We are determined to play our part in addressing the urgent and complex challenge of climate change. In March 2020 we were one of the first banks to set an ambition to become net zero by 2050, across all of our direct and indirect emissions, and we committed to align all of our financing activities with the goals and timelines of the Paris Agreement.
"We have a three-part strategy to turn that ambition into action: achieving net zero operations, reducing our financed emissions, and financing the transition. In practice, this means we have set 2030 targets to reduce our financed emissions in four of the highest emitting sectors in our financing portfolio, with additional 2025 targets for the two highest-emitting sectors – energy and power.
"We have also provided over £80bn of green financing and we are investing our own capital – £175m – into innovative, green start-ups."
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