Barcleys closed by Greenpeace

VISITORS to the Hillsborough branch of Barclays Bank found it to be closed on Monday March 2.

A sign on the door stated: “Due to circumstances beyond our control this branch will not open today.”

However, underneath the sign was a large sticker showing a woman holding a sign that read: “Barclays: Stop funding the climate emergency.”

Almost 100 branches of Barclays were unable to open for business after Greenpeace obstructed the entrances.

The campaign targeted branches across the UK to protest against the bank’s funding of oil and gas companies.

Greenpeace claims among banks, Barclays is the biggest funder of fossil fuels in Europe. It wants the bank to switch its funding into renewable energy.

Barclays said it is working to get the branches open as quickly as possible.

Morten Thaysen, climate finance campaigner at Greenpeace UK, said: “Barclays must stop funding the climate emergency, that’s why we’ve taken action today. From floods to bushfires and record heat in Antarctica, the impacts of this crisis are staring us in the face.

“Yet Barclays keeps pumping billions into fossil fuel companies at exactly the time we need to stop backing these polluting businesses.

“Greenpeace has a view on these issues to which they are completely entitled, but we would ask that - in expressing that view - they stop short of behaviour which targets our customers, and our colleagues, going about their lives in communities around the country.”