Pro-Palestine Activists Interrupted UK Bank Barclays’ Meeting For "Bankrolling" Israel’s Genocide
The activists are protesting Barclays' financial ties to arms companies supplying weapons to Israel.
Pro-Palestine activists have interrupted Barclays' annual general meeting, protesting the bank "arming" and "bankrolling” Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
Dozens of protesters gathered outside the event on Wednesday, May 7, in London, waving Palestine flags and holding banners condemning Barclays, demanding that Barclays end its complicity in Israel’s attacks in Gaza that killed more than 52,760 Palestinians, mostly women and children.
The protesters then went inside the meeting hall, shouting “Free Palestine” and “You've got blood on your hands,” disrupting the chairman Nigel Higgins as he attempted to begin the meeting.
Security then dragged and pulled the activists outside the meeting as they kept chanting “free, free Palestine.”
The activists are protesting Barclays' financial ties to arms companies supplying weapons to Israel.
Research by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) found that Barclays invests over US$ 2 billion and provides financial services worth over US$6.1 billion to companies arming Israel.
It found that Barclays also has an agreement with Israel to act as a “primary dealer” for its government bonds, meaning Barclays helps Israel directly to raise money to fund its crimes against Palestinians.
Barclays has said it does not invest its own money in companies that supply weapons used by Israel in Gaza but only trades shares on behalf of clients.
The protests are part of a broader campaign urging people to boycott Barclays and Tesco Bank (owned by Barclays) to pressure the bank into ending its financial relationships with companies arming Israel.
In 2024, thousands of people closed their Barclays accounts as part of coordinated mass account closure days, with another mass account closure event planned for May 22.
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