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Barclays’ annual general meeting on Wednesday was disrupted by protesters as the UK government prepares to clarify the rules on whether companies can hold gatherings online to cut costs and avoid interruptions by activists.
About a dozen pro-Palestinian protesters circumvented heavy security at the meeting in London on Wednesday before interrupting three times in the first 10 minutes.
In the latest protest against the UK bank’s relations with Israel, the activists stood on chairs and waved Palestinian flags, chanting “shame on you . . . free, free Palestine” and claiming that the bank was “funding genocide”, before they were physically removed by security.
In response, the British lender’s chair Nigel Higgins said “you can all go” and thanked security staff, dozens of whom were positioned around the hall.
It is the latest meeting of shareholders at a large UK company to be disrupted by protesters. HSBC’s 2022 and 2023 meetings were among those targeted by climate activists.
FTSE 250 energy group Drax ended its AGM earlier than planned last week after questions from shareholders to the board were repeatedly interrupted by green activists. The company said the event had been ended because of “threatening behaviour, and to protect the safety of . . . shareholders and staff”.
Wednesday’s protest came as some large UK-listed companies, including HSBC, consider shifting to entirely online AGMs because of frustration over disruptions from protesters and the cost of hosting in-person gatherings. However, Barclays has taken the opposite approach by deciding to scrap virtual access to its AGM this year.
The UK government is set to clarify in the coming months a legal grey area over whether companies can hold general meetings entirely online, the Financial Times reported this week.
Barclays has faced ire from pro-Palestinian activists since Israel’s war in Gaza started in late 2023 following the deadly October 7 attack by Hamas militants.
Protesters have called for a boycott of the bank over alleged investments in defence companies that supply arms used by the Israel Defense Forces. The UK bank is also one of several foreign lenders that help the Israeli government sell new debt.
Several branches of Barclays in Britain have been targeted by protesters, with windows smashed or smeared with red paint.
The protesters on Wednesday managed to infiltrate Barclays’ annual meeting despite an increased security presence at the QEII centre in Westminster where the event was held.
A tense atmosphere at the meeting was compounded by an anti-Israel demonstration taking place outside the venue, with protesters chanting “Israel is a terrorist state”. Some meeting attendees were also questioned and videoed by activists as they queued to enter.
Attendees were required to present identification documents twice each and to pass through airport-style security before reaching the registration desk outside the meeting hall.
One security guard was overheard by the FT saying that “no one with Palestine shirts or jumpers gets in”.
Barclays previously said that it trades in the shares of companies that supply arms used by the IDF for clients but that it does not invest in them directly.
Responding to a shareholder question about the bank’s financing activities in Israel, Higgins said: “We abhor the human suffering on all sides in the conflict in the Middle East. There’s no question about that. We are committed to respecting human rights and are guided by . . . the OECD guidelines, and we very carefully monitor emerging human rights-related issues.”
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