Naked protest: XR blocks roads after stripping off in HSBC and Barclays
Extinction Rebellion protestors are blocking roads next to London wall after they stripped off clothing at HSBC and Barclays bank branches as part of demonstrations targeting the City of London.
City of London police confirmed the demonstrators are sitting in the road near London Wall at the junction on Circus Place with officers attending the scene to minimise disruption.
Earlier today nude activists painted slogans on their bodies including “divest now,” “act now,” and “the naked truth” at nearby bank branches in an effort to call out funders of the climate crisis.
The demonstration follows a protest outside JP Morgan offices this morning, identified by XR as the “world’s worst bank” for financing fossil fuels.
During the livestream one of the naked rabble rousers said he felt compelled to take action “having seen the hideous extreme weather events happening over the last few months.”
He said: “HSBC and Barclays are quite literally funding death. They have to stop and they have to be made to stop.”
After first stripping off inside the HSBC building activists quickly continued on to Barclays, taking their clothes off outside. The green hell raisers stood outside bearing a banner which read “we are all vulnerable, stop funding fossil fuels.”
Today’s action comes as part of XR’s “Impossible Rebellion,” a mass civil disobedience campaign held over two weeks in the build up to the UN’s COP26 climate summit.
Over 485 activists have been arrested since the demonstrations began last week, adding to some 2,000 XR protestors who have faced prosecution since 2019.
This week XR has caused major disruption in the City of London. Demonstrators have blocked roads over Tower Bridge and London Bridge; vandalised the front of the Guildhall and Standard Chartered Bank; and broke windows at the JP Morgan building in Embankment.
Tonight the police told City A.M. : “The City of London Police is working closely with the Metropolitan Police Service and British Transport Police to appropriately and proportionately respond to protest activity in the City of London.
“Officers are currently engaging with a group of protesters on London Wall in the City to ensure balance between the right to protest and the rights of Londoners to go about their daily lives.”
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