Activists from Shropshire arrested after being chained up in fossil fuel bank protest
Extinction Rebellion activists from Shropshire and Mid Wales were arrested after being chained up inside a bank.
The group carried out the demonstration at Barclays bank in Cardiff city centre in a protest against the firm's investments in fossil fuels.
Seven people have been charged with aggravated trespass in relation to the incident on Monday.
The four men and three women, who are on bail to appear at Cardiff Magistrates’ Court on December 16, are:
Pamela Williams, aged 74, from Llanidloes
Sarah Wilding, aged 55, from Knighton
Christine Welch, aged 69, from Broseley
Mark Stokes, aged 62, from Oswestry
Jamie Russell, aged 48, from Shrewsbury
Dougall Purce, aged 59, from Shrewsbury
Michael Bastow, aged 54, from Oswestry
On the same day, activists dressed up as "corpses" and lay on the floor in a protest at the Shrewsbury town centre Barclays branch, accusing the bank of putting profits "above life itself".
In response to protests in the firm's banks up and down the country, a Barclays spokesperson said: “We are determined to play our part in addressing the urgent and complex challenge of climate change.
"In March 2020 we were one of the first banks to set an ambition to become net zero by 2050, across all of our direct and indirect emissions, and 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 £80bn of green financing and we are investing our own capital – £175m – into innovative, green start-ups."
