Two men have been arrested after the windows of a Glasgow bank were smashed as demonstrators demanded Barclays cut ties with fossil fuel firms.
Wearing safety goggles and Kevlar gloves, Extinction Rebellion protesters broke the glass of the bank’s Clyde Place Quay branch ahead of a demonstration outside the company’s outlet later on Monday.
Police Scotland said two men had been arrested and investigations were ongoing.
In images released by the campaign group, the window panes of the building at its multi-million pound Glasgow campus had been broken, and three protesters held up banners declaring “this is an intervention” and calling on the company to “stop funding Rosebank”.
The Glasgow protesters said the field has more than 500 million barrels of oil, and claim Barclays have provided Norwegian state-owned firm Equinor with £2bn of backing since 2015.
In footage released by the group, police liaison officers can be seen at the bank with police vans and cars arriving as they held their banners.
One Extinction Rebellion protester said they were taking the action because “Barclays are finding the destruction of our planet, and they are funding the destruction of our children’s future”.
Alex Cochrane, of Extinction Rebellion Scotland, said that the bank were the “biggest funders of fossil fuel in Europe”, adding that “their greed is exploiting and creating a future of famine, displaced people and global suffering”.
The group claimed the action in Scotland’s biggest city followed in the footsteps of suffragettes and the Ploughshares movement, by “using non-violent direct action and causing damage to property to prevent and draw attention to greater damage”.
A Police Scotland spokesman said: “Around 8.10am on 14 November, police were made aware of damage to a property in Kingston Street, Glasgow.
“Officers attended and two men have been arrested. Inquires are ongoing.”
Barclays has been approached for comment.
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