Smash and no grab: the front of Barclays Ban on North End was completely destroyed this morning. There did not appear to be any sign of robbery
Croydon town centre’s Barclays Bank was the target of vandalism attack in the early hours of this morning, with its toughened glass frontage completely smashed in.
The bank branch, in a prime location on the junction of North End and the tram tracks running down Church Street, has been a frequent focus for demonstrators over the business’s investments in fossil fuels and the global arms trade, but this is thought to be the first time that the whole frontage of the bank has been destroyed.
The Metropolitan Police confirmed to Inside Croydon that they are investigating the incident as criminal damage. “We will not tolerate people causing criminal damage to buildings under the guise of protest,” a Scotland Yard spokesperson told iC.
Passers-by on Croydon’s main shopping street on their way to work this morning encountered a taped-off area, with a five-metre stretch of the bank’s frontage open to the elements.
There was no obvious sign that any attempts had been made to steal any cash stored at the bank.
On the Church Street side of the bank was some spray-painted slogans, calling on Barclays to stop funding Israel’s military in its attacks on Palestinians and Gaza.
The bank’s toughed glass frontage could cost thousands of pounds to replace and make secure again.
Leaving a message: the spray paint reads ‘stop funding genocide’ and ‘free Palestine’
According to the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, last year Barclays Bank owned £1.3billion-worth in shares in companies that supplied Israel with weapons. It is also claimed that the bank underwrites Israel’s arms-suppliers with another £4billion-worth of loans and financial services.
The companies include General Dynamics, which produces the gun systems that arm fighter jets used by Israel to bombard Gaza, and Elbit Systems, which produces armoured drones, munitions and artillery weapons used by the Israeli military.
In February this year, it was claimed that at least 1,500 people had closed their Barclays Bank accounts in protest against the bank’s “bankrolling of Israel’s genocidal attack on Palestinians”.
A previous 20-year boycott of Barclays over its investments in apartheid South Africa saw the bank eventually divest in 1986.
PSC director Ben Jamal told the Morning Star earlier this year: “Nobody with a conscience would bank with Barclays in the 1970s and ’80s when we fought to stop it supporting the brutal, racist system of South African apartheid.
“Nobody with a conscience could now bank with Barclays knowing it helps facilitate Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza.
“We forced Barclays to stop supporting apartheid before, and we’ll force it to stop supporting genocide and apartheid now.”
The PSC stresses that it is not a “direct action” campaign, and would not ever condone or encourage criminal damage to any property.
By lunchtime, no organisation had formally claimed responsibility for the damage to the Barclays Bank town centre branch today.
In a statement issued to this website, the Met Police said: “On Thursday April 18 at approximately 01:45hrs police received a call to attend North End, Croydon, after a report of criminal damage after a pro-Palestine slogan had been sprayed onto the front of a building.
“Officers attended but those responsible had left the scene. There has been no arrest and an investigation is ongoing.”
Anyone with information is asked to call 101 or ‘X’ @MetCC and quote CAD408/18Apr.
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I went to Barclays Bank today and asked to speak to the manager with the intention of opening a Barclays Bank account.
I asked two managers about the report in iC (18April) that Barclays Bank was responsible for the “bankrolling of Israel’s genocidal attack on Palestinians”. Neither manager were in a position to deny the allegation made by Palestine Solidarity Campaign.
As a consequence, I decided not to open an account. Instead, I joined Croydon4Palestine, who were outside encouraging a Boycott of Barclays (and McDonalds too) by a “Don’t spend your money on genocide campaign”.
Thank you to iC.
Did you? In which branch of Barclays, or indeed any other bank, did you find two managers present on a Saturday?
CCTV will confirm, as will the police, and Barclays Bank North End, that I asked two Managers. One said to me that they decided to keep the branch open in order to serve the public. It was their inability to deny iC’s report that Barclays was involved in “bankrolling Israel’s genocidal policy on Palestinians” that helped me decide not to bank with Barclays.