Climate activists 'dye' headquarters of BOE
A London police officer detains an activist from the Extinction Rebellion, a global environmental movement, during a protest outside the Bank of England building on Thursday.
Climate activists in London splashed black dye on the front of the Bank of England’s imposing neo-classical headquarters on Thursday as part of a protest against the finance sector’s support of what they say is a climate catastrophe.
Activists, some dressed as jesters, sprayed the dye at the building, known as “the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street,” leaving black stains on the building’s main entrance.
“This bank is killing us,” read a banner held up by one protester. “No more fossil fuels,” read another.
City of London police said they had arrested four people, one for trespass and three for criminal damage.
The Bank of England declined to comment.
“The action today is part of a wave of actions by XR’s Money Rebellion designed to expose the role of banks in the climate and ecological crisis,” said Extinction Rebellion, a global environmental movement.
The action is being cast by the group as a “Money Rebellion.”
The movement group wants to trigger a rebellion against the political, economic and social structure of the modern world in time to avert the worst devastation outlined by scientists studying climate change.
It says the Bank of England has failed to be strict enough with commercial banks to stop them funding climate change and wants it to be much tougher with the financial sector.
More fundamentally, the group says the Bank, which it cast as the “Bank of Extinction,” was a pillar of an economic model based on infinite growth that prioritized short-term profit over the health of the planet.
