On Friday 27 February students at the University of Birmingham targeted the campus branch of Natwest yet again in protest against its irresponsible investments in funding the fossil fuel industry. The students continued their creative protest against the RBS owned bank, this time making it bigger and better, with the added effects of fake blood to catch the attention of passers by. The chalk ‘graffiti’ read NATWEST=CLIMATE CHAOS and there was also a chalk petition where passers by were encourage to sign their support.

This comes after a week of intense media coverage about the financial problems RBS faces and a recent article in the guardian which reveals the dirty investments RBS are so fond of. There is increasing pressure on the government to force RBS to disclose the true carbon emissions of its investments now that it has such a large stake in the company . This is supported by the tabling of an Early Day Motion (EDM) by Martin Horwood, who is a local Liberal Democrat MP for Cheltenham. The EDM “calls on the Government to use its majority share in RBS to prioritise climate change as a principal concern in RBS's lending decisions” . This calls for a change in banking regulations, requesting that they must make matters of environmental concern just as important as financial ones.

Last weeks protest is calling for the students at the University of Birmingham and other students and members of the general public nationwide to keep up the pressure on Natwest and the RBS at this crucial time. It is now that the taxpayers of the country deserve a say in how the bank is run, considering the government is now due to own 70% of RBS. Which is why if the bank continues to refuse to face up to its responsibilities and kick its addition to dirty investments the threat to boycott in September must be maintained.

This time University security took a little more interest in the protest, with a few members of senior security attending throughout the action. Photographs of the students taking part were also taken by University security; a tactic which has not been used much before. This was swiftly responded to by participants subsequently photographing security staff too. Despite the increase of security attendance, no measures were taken to really threaten the students with no police presence at all.