Naked protest: Extinction Rebellion strip off in HSBC and Barclays : CityAM

Extinction Rebellion protestors stripped off their clothing at HSBC and Barclays bank branches as part of demonstrations targeting the City of London.

The nude activists painted slogans on their bodies including “divest now,” “act now,” and “the naked truth” in an effort to call out big banks funding climate change. The demonstration follows a protest outside JP Morgan offices this morning, identified by XR as the “world’s worst bank” for financing fossil fuels.

LIVE: @XRebellionUK Impossible Rebellion Day 12 – Part 2 https://t.co/reLSbuE4bc— Extinction Rebellion (@ExtinctionR) September 3, 2021

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.”

Extinction Rebellion activists were seen naked at HSBC and Barclays bank branches

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.

Read more: Doctors for XR forcibly removed from JP Morgan building