Extinction Rebellion promise ‘eye-catching’ demonstration outside Sheffield city centre bank today

The Sheffield branch of Extinction Rebellion will demonstrate outside Barclays on Pinstone street from 12pm as they push the banking giant to "clean up their act and divest from fossil fuels".

The group say their actions will send "a message to the financial industry that the support for fossil fuels needs to end", and "increase public awareness of where the big banks invest their money".

Around 20 protestors will be in overalls and will stage a "clean up" of the bank. This will be followed at 12.45 by a vigil for the victims of the Australian wildfires and those affected by flooding in Jakarta.

A post on the Extinction Rebellion Sheffield Facebook page read: “With the start of 2020, we've a sudden urge to do some scrubbing up. We're inviting you all to join us on Friday 10th January, when we will be holding an eye-catching cleaning operation in the city centre.

The group say they need a big turnout to pull things off and are asking people to come along for as long as they can, however brief, and spread the word to their friends.

The post continued: “The Climate Emergency is still the biggest issue affecting this and all nations, and some people really need encouragement to clean up their act.”

A Barclays spokesperson said: “We recognise that climate change is one of the greatest challenges facing the world today, and are determined to do all we can to support the transition to a low carbon economy, while also ensuring that global energy needs continue to be met.

“We continue to develop our green products suite and in 2018 we facilitated £27.3bn in social and environmental financing across our business including green bonds and renewable financing.”

Extinction Rebellion Sheffield have previously held multiple demonstrations in the city, including a day of ‘flooding-themed non-violent civil disobedience’ outside City Hall. In September, the group also disrupted traffic on Derek Dooley way in protest over the widening of the city’s ring road.