Bristol Momentum protesters take over Broadmead to stage action against Barclays

A group of protesters gathered outside a city centre bank on Saturday afternoon (March 30) as part of a campaign against investing in the fossil fuel industry.

Bristol Momentum were staging a direct action against Barclays as part of a nationwide campaign

They were gathered outside the Broadmead branch between 12pm and 2pm while other arms of Momentum groups staged similar actions in towns and cities across the UK.

Protesters outside the Barclays branch in Broadmead (Michael Lloyd)

Inspired by the youth climate strikers, the campaign used 'distributed organising techniques' pioneered in 2016 in the US by the Bernie Sanders presidential campaign, including mass conference calls to mobilise members and use of viral WhatsApp groups to mobilise locally, say the group.

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The campaign follows Labour’s push for a ‘Green Industrial Revolution’ in Britain to address climate change and create hundreds of thousands of green jobs, as well as the launch of grassroots campaign ‘Labour for a Green New Deal’ last week, inspired by the popularity of the 'Green New Deal' spearheaded by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in the US.

A Momentum spokesperson said: “Climate change is already devastating communities around the world, and fossil fuel companies and their financiers are to blame. A decade ago the banks crashed the economy - now they’re crashing the planet.

“It’s time we faced the banks that fund climate breakdown head on. Inspired by the young people participating in the youth climate strikes around the world, we’ll be organising Labour members to take action against Barclays, who have funded fossil fuel companies to the tune of $85bn since the Paris Agreement was signed at the end of 2015.

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“Only the banks have the cash to finance big fossil fuel infrastructure projects. If we break the chain of fossil fuel finance, we can make the functioning of the fossil fuel industry impossible.

"Campaigners have beaten Barclays before. Now is the moment to do it again.”