Barclays Bank in Newport occupied in solidarity with Gaza

Barclays - Divest from Elbit!

Palestine solidarity and anti-NATO campaigners have occupied Barclays Bank on Newport High Street this afternoon. The activists are calling for Barclays PLC to divest its shares from Elbit Systems, the Israeli drone manufacturer which produces unpiloted aircraft used to attack people in Gaza. Barclays owns almost 60 000 shares in Elbit.

Protesters are chanting 'Stop Arming Israel' and singing 'Barclays divest from the Arms trade'. Three protesters have glued themselves inside the bank.

Israeli armed drones carried out 851 Strikes during the last attack on Gaza. In response Palestinians are calling for investors to pull their money out of companies like Elbit, which are responsible for manufacturing these drones.

The occupation has been timed to coincide with the NATO summit. Elbit's drones are also used by NATO members. The company is part of a partnership manufacturing the Watchkeeper drone for use by the UK military.

Michelle Horton, one of the occupiers inside the bank said, "Elbit's drones are used to carry out horrific war crimes in Gaza. We are here to stand in solidarity with people in Gaza and to persuade Barclays to get rid of their shares in Elbit."

Stop NATO Cymru /Anarchist Action Network
e-mail: Anarchistactionnetwork@riseup.net

Additions

A few photos from the occupation/die-in

06.09.2014 10:58

Here are a few photos from inside the occupied bank yesterday and the arrestees being brought out some two hours later.

There was a large solidarity presence outside with banners, flyers, singing and chalking. Vanloads of cops turned up too. More photos to follow.

This is what the South Wales Argus made of it:

http://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/news/11456881.Anti_Nato_protesters_chain_themselves_inside_Barclays_bank/?ref=var_0

boycott barclays

Comments

Hide the following 2 comments

arrestee update

06.09.2014 11:08

report on walesonline 3 have been bailed, one taken to court this morning. only age and towns of residence given

supporter

support available in the aftermath

09.09.2014 10:24

If you want to talk to someone about anything that happened to you during the anti-NATO week of action, you can call the wellbeing phone line 07435 371764 between 12 noon and 8pm. You can also txt us to arrange a call outside these hours. This phone line will run until at least the end of October. As well as supporting you over the phone we can also tell you about other places you can get support.

wellbeing WG

World Topics

Kollektives

Encrypted Page

You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.

If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.