Using the incorrect spelling, eco-protesters have called Barclays a “climatcriminal” on the walls of a London branch.
As climate justice demonstrators once again attacked the bank franchise, a storefront in St. John’s Wood was defaced with pink spray paint this morning.
But this time, protesters may have required a spell checker since the word “climatecriminal” was written in all caps on numerous of the store’s windows.
Environmental activists have already vandalized Barclays, with Extinction Rebellion demonstrators inflicting £100,000 in damage to a Barclays in London. If this were to happen, it would not be the first time.
The Canary Wharf headquarters’ windows had previously been broken, and on another occasion, 45 London branches were covered with black paint.
Activists dubbed the day of climate demonstrations in November “the largest ever” when hundreds of people demonstrated outside of more than 100 Barclays locations.
Previous actions against the bank have been justified by eco-warriors’ hostility to capitalism and its role in accelerating climate change.
Members of the Extinction Rebellion in particular have charged the bank in the past of making “continuing investments in activities that are directly causing the climate and ecological crises.”
In order to prevent the worst case scenarios of destruction detailed by scientists researching climate change, the movement hopes to spark a larger uprising against the political, economic, and social systems of the contemporary world.
‘We are dedicated to do our role in solving the important and complicated problem of climate change,’ a Barclays official stated in reaction to the event.
“We were one of the first banks to establish an aim to become net zero by 2050, across all of our direct and indirect emissions, and we promised to align all of our financing operations with the objectives and deadlines of the Paris Agreement,” said one of the first banks to make this commitment.
In actuality, this means that we have established 2030 objectives for reducing the emissions we fund in four of the most polluting sectors in our financing portfolio, along with additional 2025 targets for the two highest emitting sectors, energy and electricity.
In order to encourage new green technologies and infrastructure projects that will increase low-carbon capacity and competence, “We have an aim to enable $1trn in Sustainable and Transition financing by 2030 and we are investing £500m of our own resources into climate-tech start-ups.”
Damage has occurred today as Extinction Rebellion demonstrations have intensified in the Netherlands, with people in The Hague waving fireworks and banners.
It also comes after Barclays announced the closure of 15 branches nationwide; over 100 banks have already announced closure plans for this year.
14 branches in England and one in Wales will be closed by the bank between the end of April and the first few days of May.
Among the locations closing down in a matter of days are those in London, Gosport, Bridgwater, and St. Helens.
Regarding today’s event, MailOnline has contacted the Metropolitan Police for comment.
»Criminal spelling! Illiterate vandal calls Barclays a “climat criminal.”«