EXTINCTION Rebellion blocked tills and cashpoints during a protest at Barclays Bank in Poole.

Outside they displayed a banner and handed out leaflets explaining to customers and passers-by why they were protesting on Monday, November 14. 

The BCP XR Rhythms Band also played both inside and outside the branch.

Greg Lambe, from XR Bournemouth, said: “Many protests have been made, letters have been delivered to Barclays branches and their head office, and AGM meetings have been disrupted. But so far Barclays has made no effort to acknowledge or act on these requests to stop funding climate chaos.”

He added: “We can no longer afford to be acquiescent bystanders as our planet’s ecosystems, that we rely on as well as all other life, continue to collapse. We have to take non-violent direct action to ensure companies like Barclays listen to the world’s scientists and act accordingly and stop financing fossil fuels”.

A Barclays spokesperson said: "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."