A passer-by aimed angry criticism at Extinction Rebellion (XR) activists in Cardiff city centre as the climate protest group occupied Barclays bank. Seven XR members had chained themselves to the interior of the bank in St David's Way at around 12pm on Monday to protest its funding of fossil fuels.
One man walking past the protest at 3.40pm stopped to criticise the demonstrators. He told David, a 36-year-old XR member from west Cardiff, that the group was causing "chaos". By this point police had already used bolt cutters to remove all seven of the chained protesters and marched them into police vans.
David, who was supporting the protest with placards opposing Barclays' investment in fossil fuels, told the passer-by: "The police have caused it [the chaos]." But the man replied: "No, you've caused the chaos."
Read next: Schools shut as large parts of Cardiff left without water
Pointing at the five police vans on the scene, the passer-by continued: "If you weren't here, they wouldn't be here would they? You f***ing headcase." David responded: "They don't need to be here."
The passer-by asked: "You don't like fumes and fuel, right? How many of these vehicles have had to come because of you lot?"
Speaking about Barclays' fossil fuel record, David then said: "They put in £160bn... £160bn." But the passer-by replied: "Look at the pollution. How many vehicles?"
David said: "There's pollution everywhere. Every road in Cardiff." The man responded: "Of course there is... but all this pollution is caused by you."
In another frank exchange a group of bystanders questioned the group's occupation of the bank. One said: “At the end of the day we’re not going to be able to do anything.” A protester replied: “That’s the lie they’re selling us.”
The Guardian reports that Barclays put more than £15bn into the fossil fuel industry in 2021. The Cardiff demonstration was part of a national day of action from XR at Barclays branches across the UK. In the Welsh capital the protesters held a banner reading: "This is an intervention. Barclays stop funding fossil fuels." XR said it wanted to draw attention to the “impunity with which Barclays continues to fund and profit from new fossil fuels”.
Barclays says it wants to be a net zero bank by 2050 and become one of the first banks to do so. But XR has demanded that it stop all new fossil fuel investments immediately.
There was some applause for each of the chained protesters in Cardiff as they were marched, one by one, into the back of police vans. One protester told WalesOnline they had been arrested on suspicion of aggravated trespass and were going to be taken to Cardiff Bay police station. South Wales Police later confirmed seven people had been arrested.
The police vans left the scene at around 4pm with few activists remaining. The bank did not reopen on Monday.
A Barclays spokesman 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."
To get the latest Cardiff news straight to your inbox, subscribe to our daily newsletter here.
READ NEXT:
- 'Abhorrent' messages on a dead officer's phone paint picture of a 'toxic culture' in Gwent Police
'Our daughter disappeared a year ago. We'll never give up looking for her'
The huge five-bed Georgian townhouse for sale for same price as a trendy Cardiff terrace
Man set upon in shopping street by violent thugs as no-one helped
