Protesters block entrance to Barclays Chicago office to demand divestment from Israel

Chicago, IL – Hundreds of Barclays employees were unable to enter their workplace on Thursday morning, October 10, after protesters blocked off all entrances to the bank’s downtown headquarters. Barclays owns $2.5 billion worth of shares in eight companies that provide weapons, components and military technology to the genocidal state of Israel and provides loans worth $7.6 billion to seven of those eight companies. The protesters demanded that Barclays divest from these companies as part of the international Boycott, Divestments and Sanctions (BDS) campaign.

“All elected officials in the U.S., especially Kamala Harris, must be held accountable for allowing Israel to kill, maim, destroy homes, and terrorize Palestinians with impunity,” said Husam Marajda, U.S. Palestinian Community Network – Chicago co-chair. “And businesses must be targeted as well, because banks like Barclays are in bed with weapons manufacturers and Israel, which profit from the killing of Palestinians.”

Twelve protesters, six at each entrance, bound their arms together in a sleeping dragon in front of the doors to barricade the building. Fifty other protesters chanted, passed out flyers about divestment, and supported the needs of those who were blocking the doors. Some passersby and employees inside the building joined the protest when they heard it was for Palestine.

The protesters held the entrances for two hours while chanting “Hey Barclays you can’t hide, you are funding genocide” and “Disclose! Divest! We will not stop, we will not rest!” among other chants calling for divestment from Israel and freedom for Palestine. Dozens of police officers, including SWAT teams, swarmed the area and shoved media and crowds off the sidewalk, blocking off two streets in the process.

“These are the kinds of actions people took to force companies to divest from apartheid South Africa,” said Angel Gonzalez with Students for a Democratic Society. “We will continue to disrupt because there can be no business as usual while the genocide in Gaza continues.”

Members of the organizations that carried out the action, namely the U.S. Palestinian Community Network (USPCN)-Chicago, Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (CAARPR), Anti-War Committee-Chicago, Students for a Democratic Society at UIC, Freedom Road Socialist Organization, Jewish Voices for Peace, and others, waited outside the First District Police Station until all 12 protesters were released in the early evening. Before going home, the organizers vowed to keep fighting for divestment, an end to the genocide, and a liberated Palestine from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea.

“As USPCN has continuously stated, if Kamala and the Democrats aren’t going to stop this genocide, then we, the people, must do it ourselves,” said Frank Chapman, field organizer for the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression. “And this action and these mass arrests is one step to force it to stop.”

#ChicagoIL #IL #AntiWarMovement #Palestine #USPCN #CAARPR