EXTINCTION Rebellion protestors used mops and feather dusters to clean a High Street bank as they rallied against the company's investment in fossil fuels.
The group staged an "unscheduled cleaning" at Barclays, in Colchester, on Saturday, bringing sponges, mops and dusters into the bank.
Protestors said by scrubbing the bank's windows and polishing the interior, they are calling out Barclays for investing in fossil fuels.
The group alleges Barclays is the UK's largest investor in fossil fuels, adding: "Investments in oil, gas and coal are driving the climate crisis."
Protestors added: "The climate emergency is the biggest threat we face.
"The government says it cares about the climate, yet is not even on track to meet its own targets. It is madness and it will only stop if people speak out.
"The Colchester protest is part of a wider series of protests against Barclays rolling out across England and Wales called ‘Better Without Barclays’.
"Activists plan to challenge the bank’s continued refusal to stop investing in fossil fuels with a variety of different protests."
Rosie Dodds, a charity worker from Clacton, added: "We decided to clean Barclays because they are the dirtiest bank in Europe, investing billions in oil, gas and fracking.
"Instead of helping us solve the climate crisis, Barclays is actively making it worse."
Responding to the claims, a Barclays spokeswoman said the bank was one of the first to set an ambition to become "net zero" by 2050.
“We are determined to play our part in addressing the urgent and complex challenge of climate change," she said.
"We committed to align all of our financing activities with the goals and timelines of the Paris Agreement.
"We have a three-part strategy to turn that ambition into action: achieving net zero operations, reducing our financed emissions, and financing the transition.
"In practice, this means we have set 2030 targets to reduce our financed emissions in four of the highest emitting sectors in our financing portfolio, with additional 2025 targets for the two highest-emitting sectors – energy and power.
"We have also provided over £60bn of green financing and we are investing our own capital – £175m – into innovative, green start-ups.”
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