Green campaigners stage Valentine’s Day “Break Up With Barclays” protest in Shrewsbury

Fifteen members of the group staged a protest outside the Castle Street branch with a broken heart that listed all the reasons why people should ‘break up with Barclays’. 

Sharuff Morsa, a spokesperson for the group, said: "This Valentine’s Day we’re asking customers to realise that Barclays isn’t their friend. It’s an abusive partner. The bank promises they’re going green, but behind our backs they’re cheating on us and getting dirty with fossil fuel companies.

"As the world tries to stop the climate crisis and what Boris Johnson called “the collapse of civilisation”, Barclays is making huge profits from investing in coal, oil, gas, fracking, Arctic drilling and Amazon deforestation."

Protesters chatted to customers and shoppers both inside and outside the branch and handed out leaflets encouraging people to switch banks. A small front of protesters staged a sit in inside the bank. 

The Shrewsbury protest is one of dozens of protests happening across the Midlands this month as campaigner put pressure on Barclays, which is the biggest funder of fossil fuels in Europe. Last week Oswestry campaigners ‘cleaned’ the town’s branch of Barclays, while similar protests have sprung up in Leicester, Chesterfield, Nottingham and Coventry. 

Says Morsa said: "Across the Midlands people are protesting outside branches of Barclays because this bank has broken our hearts. Instead of being a force for good, they’re killing us with their investments. We’ve had enough and this Valentine’s Day we’re breaking up with them. If you have a Barclays account and you don’t want your money to wreck the planet, try switching to a more ethical bank like Triodos or Nationwide."