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Activists smash windows of Barclays in Broadmead
Activists have smashed almost all of the windows of Barclays in Broadmead and also daubed red paint over the front of the bank.
A police cordon was put in place around the bank on Monday morning as Barclays staff gingerly stepped over the broken glass to get into their place of work.
The Barclays in Bristol was one of 20 across England and Scotland targeted overnight by Palestine Action and a new group called Shut the System.
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Palestine Action describe themselves as “the direct action network dismantling British complicity in Israeli apartheid”.
In a statement, Palestine Action said that Barclays “invests in Israel’s largest weapons firm, Elbit Systems – our primary target”.
Elbit Systems’ main operational facility in the UK is located in Aztec West, with the site regularly targeted by protesters.
Palestine Action added: “Shut the System is a new group aimed at fighting the climate crisis, targeting the bank over its fossil fuel investments.
“This collaboration has made our campaign against the bank more effective and left Barclays shattered.
“We won’t rest until Barclays divests.”
Barclays in Broadmead was one of 20 across England and Scotland targeted by Palestine Action and Shut the System – photo: Martin Booth
Writing on Instagram, Shut the System said they and Palestine Action “have taken radical direct action in frustration with Barclays’ paltry progress on changing their climate destroying and genocidal financing”.
Their protest is “against their financing of climate criminals and weapons manufacturers”, with activists saying that Barclays “funds the crises of climate collapse and genocide in Palestine”.
“Decades of campaigning, petitions, letter writing (and) lobbying MPs have failed. We’ll escalate till Barclays pulls its finger out and stops funding genocide.”
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On the Barclays website, they answer the question: is Barclays financing and investing in arms manufacturers supplying weapons used by Israel in Gaza?
“First and most importantly, we recognise the profound human suffering caused by this conflict. This is an exceptionally complex and long-running conflict, and we urge governments and the international community to work together to find a lasting, peaceful solution.
“Barclays has been the subject of criticism in relation to Gaza based on two arguments: that Barclays is an investor in these businesses, and that we provide a range of financial services to clients which produce equipment used by the Israeli Defence Force.
“We have been asked why we invest in nine defence companies supplying Israel, but this mistakes what we do. We trade in shares of listed companies in response to client instruction or demand and that may result in us holding shares. We are not making investments for Barclays and Barclays is not a ‘shareholder’ or ‘investor’ in that sense in relation to these companies.
“An associated claim is that we invest in Elbit, an Israeli defence manufacturer which also supplies the UK armed forces with equipment and training. For the reasons mentioned, it is not true that we have made a decision to invest in Elbit. We may hold shares in relation to client driven transactions, which is why we appear on the share register, but we are not investors.
“We note also that Elbit is highlighted because campaigners claim it makes cluster bombs. We would cease any relationship with any business where we saw evidence that it manufactures cluster bombs or components.
“As a bank, our job is to provide financial services to thousands of business clients and that includes those in the defence sector. Clients in this sector include US, UK or European companies which supply defence products to NATO and other allies including Ukraine.
“The defence sector is heavily regulated. Barclays also has policies on a range of issues including climate change, human rights and the defence and security sector. For example, for the defence and security sector the policy includes a prohibition on working with clients known to be manufacturing cluster munitions and landmines or their components.
“We consult widely on these issues and our approach is then captured in our policies and we use these policies to evaluate clients and transactions. The policies are available to view on our website, and help clients understand where we stand.
“The defence sector overall is an important contributor to our security. It provides equipment to a wide range of countries including the UK and other European NATO members, and more recently Ukraine.
“The defence industry is as essential to our defence as the armed forces, and having access to the most advanced equipment is essential to protect our armed forces. We don’t think that taking away financial support for the defence industry as a whole is the right thing to do. Further, in April the UK Government said that supporting high-quality, well-run defence companies is compatible with ESG considerations.
“It is the role of Government to decide foreign policy and laws which restrict the delivery of weapons to any one country. We have noted the UK and US Governments’ concern with respect to civilian deaths and the targeting of aid workers, and will continue to monitor developments closely.”
Main photo & video: Martin Booth
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