Activists who chained themselves to the inside of a bank are believed to have stepped down protests after a few hours.
Extinction Rebellion members targeted Barclays bank on Northumberland Street on Monday morning as part of a coordinated effort which saw the activism group target 200 branches nationwide over claims it is continuing to invest huge sums in fossil fuels.
It was reported that six Extinction Rebellion members entered the city centre branch at around 9.45am holding placards, with protestors saying they will go to any lengths they can to get their message heard.
Northumbria Police confirmed that police were made aware of an ongoing protest at a premises on Northumberland Street and officers were at the scene engaging with those involved. It is believed protestors stood down on Monday afternoon after several hours.
The climate group said it was targeting Barclays "to highlight to its customers what is being done with their money". They say the bank is the seventh biggest funder of fossil fuels in the world, and Europe's biggest.
A Barclays spokesperson 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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