Palestine vigil activists urge Louth Library to sever links with Barclays
Activists who hold a weekly vigil in Louth for Palestine have called on the town’s library to sever its links with Barclays Bank.
For the last 80 consecutive weeks, the vigil has been staged every Friday, from 12 midday to 1 pm, near the ‘Fish Shambles’ in Louth town centre.
Organisers say the purpose of it is “to express solidarity with the people of Palestine who are suffering so much in the face of a relentless onslaught by Israel” in the ongoing Gaza war.
"We sing songs, read poems and collect donations for the Medical Aid for Palestine charity, or we simply stand in silence,” said one.
However, the group has now diversified its focus because the nearby Louth Library has made a business decision to provide a base for Barclays Bank three times a week.
Barclays no longer has a specific branch in the town, so it sets up at the Northgate library on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays (9.30 am to 2 pm).
This has upset the activists, who accuse Barclays of “directly helping Israel to fund its atrocities” in the war through its investments and loans.
They have held peaceful protests outside the library and have sent a letter to the Louth Leader, urging the library to “end the current arrangement with Barclays”.
The letter states: “We acknowledge that the public library provides a useful community service in hosting a bank. But we believe it is a totally inappropriate setting for Barclays, particularly in light of the fact that Israel has destroyed libraries in Gaza.
"Barclays has invested £2 billion, and provides loans worth £6.1 billion, to firms supplying Israel with weapons used in its attacks on Palestinians.
"We urge the library to consider inviting another bank which refuses to finance any military activity, such as the Co-operative Bank, the Nationwide Building Society or Triodos Bank.”
The letter is signed by these 22 people – Tamsin Hunkin, Richard Keeble, Ian Sharp, Debbie Morris, Stella Milburn, Ian Rushby, Ruairidh Greig, Rosemary Broughon, Lynne Cooney, John Gardiner, Lois Moore, Dennis Bloomfield, Sue Clements, Katherine Adams, Alison Spittles, Jacqueline Scutt, Barbara Godden, Jill Waterman, Robert Newton, Anna Hoyles, Peter Hickman and Michael Bateson.
Louth Library is run by GLL Ltd (Greenwich Libraries Ltd), a charitable social enterprise, under the brand name of Better Libraries.
A spokesperson for GLL issued this statement: “We are a charitable social enterprise and worker-owned co-operative that exists to support communities with their health and wellbeing through the provision of leisure and library services.
"Across the UK, the number of bank branches is continuing to decline which is a significant issue for older people, the disabled and those who cannot easily travel to branches outside their local area.
"Our library provides information to support the community to access public services, including signposting to finance and banking services.
"It's entirely up to customers to choose to use the banking hub service in our library, which is a welcoming and neutral space.
"We welcome the approach of any bank which wants to set up a hub with us at any of the libraries we operate."
Barclays responded to the controversy by saying: “Barclays has been criticised for providing services to the defence sector and for financing defence manufacturers.
"We are a bank, like others in the UK, which provides a range of financial services to UK, US and European companies that make defence equipment alongside their civilian products and supply NATO and its allies.
"Barclays does not invest directly in these companies. But they are an important contributor to our national security and, at a time of increasing instability, we don’t think taking away our services is the right thing to do.”
Barclays categorically denied that it provides direct funding to Israel and added: "Decisions on the implementation of arms embargoes on other nations are the job of respective elected governments.
"We recognise the profound human suffering caused by the exceptionally complex and long-running Gaza conflict. We urge governments and the international community to find a lasting, peaceful solution.”