HSBC 'global IT hub' in Sheffield vandalised with windows smashed and red paint flung on walls
Staff at a major HSBC office in Sheffield are cleaning up broken glass today after vandals caused hundreds of thousands of pounds of damage.
Nearly every ground floor window of the bank’s ‘global IT hub’ in Grosvenor House, Cambridge Street, was smashed overnight, with red paint flung across the walls.
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‘Free Palestine’ and ‘Drop Elbit’ was written on the entrance.
Staff are still able to enter the building today (March 2) despite the extensive barriers set up by security, while cleaners work to vacuum glass shards from the doorway.
All of the office’s revolving doors and floor-to-ceiling sheet windows were smashed.
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South Yorkshire Police was contacted for a comment.
Elbit is an Israel-based defence firm with sites including arms factories in the UK. The company has been accused by protest groups such as Palestine Action of supplying weapons used in attacks in Gaza. The firm denies this.
On January 20, an HSBC branch in Norwich was similarly targeted, with ‘Drop Elbit’ painted on the smashed windows.
HSBC reportedly owns more than $8m in shares in Elbit Systems Ltd.