Hundreds of Extinction Rebellion (XR) activists staged a mass clean-up of Barclays banks across the UK, including St Albans this month.
Shoppers in St Albans city centre were in for a surprise when a group of dressed up cleaners gathered outside Barclays bank on St Peters Street on Saturday, November 9.
Over 300 XR activists entered 20 different branches of Barclays dressed as cleaners with props and ‘cleaned’ the public area for 20 minutes to demonstrate to customers and employees “it is long overdue for Barclays to clean up their act”.
On way they chose Barclays, Sarah Brenman said: “We have to stop banks financing the climate emergency and Barclays are the worst in Europe.”
Bethany Mogie said: “I’m protesting here because for Barclays to be funding arctic oil exploration is unforgivable.”
Since the 2016 Paris Agreement, 33 leading banks have lent $1.9trillion dollars to the fossil fuel industry.
When fossil fuels are used, they produce carbon which is the causing global heating leading to a rise in sea levels, to the desertification of huge areas of the world, and to the extinction of thousands of species.
The XR is hoping to influence them to invest in renewable energy such as wind and wave power instead.
Mangala Patilmead said: “The time has come to change. As one of the biggest retail banks, Barclays have a lot of clout and should be making the right choices.”
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