Bank staff in the branch did not comment on the protest but appeared to be relaxed about the 15 to 20 protestors inside and outside the shop. The bank remained open for business throughout. It was reported that bank staff had been advised to work from home if possible due to the planned protests.

Protestors outside Barclays Bank in North Street.

Passers-by stopped to take photographs but generally went about their business. One said “at least they aren’t closing roads”.

There were up to four police at the scene. The police spoke to the protestors but had taken no action up to around two hours after the protestors had arrived at the bank. There were reported arrests at other locations including in Birmingham, Kettering and Clapham.

At around 4pm, a spokesperson for Surrey Police said: “At 12.20pm today, police were made aware of an ongoing protest at Barclays Bank on North Street, Guildford.

“Officers are in attendance at the scene engaging with staff and those involved in the protest. At this time no criminal offences are believed to have been committed.”

Climate activist Tom said he was motivated by his five-year-old son to protest against “this climate catastrophe”.

A Guildford Extinction Rebellion spokesperson said: “If the UK banking sector was a country, it would be the world’s 9th biggest polluter.”

ShareAction, a pressure group who work to “harness the positive potential of our finance system”, said climate change was “driven by short-term investment decisions focused on maximising profit which fail to account for external risks and impacts. While the idea of responsible finance is growing fast, the world’s major investors are not yet driving change at the level needed”.

In February 2022, they estimated that HSBC put $8.7 billion (£6.4bn) into new oil and gas during 2021, while Barclays put in $4.5 billion, and Deutsche Bank loaned $5.7 billion. They said the fossil fuel giants receiving the funding included Exxon Mobil, Shell, BP, and Saudi Aramco.

Extinction Rebellion poster outside Barclays Bank in Guildford.

A Barclays’ statement on the BBC said they had “set an ambition to become net zero by 2050”. They added: “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 £80 billion of green financing and we are investing our own capital – £175 million – into innovative, green start-ups.”

The Dragon has asked Barclays Bank for a comment on the protests.