Protests in Wimbledon Demand Barclays Be Removed as Sponsor
London – A group of pro-Palestinian protesters urged Wimbledon to sever its sponsorship relationship with Barclays due to the British bank’s business operations with Israel. The protest took place on Monday, coinciding with the first day of the tournament. Approximately two dozen protesters from the Palestine Solidarity Campaign gathered near the main entrance of the All England Club, as thousands of fans arrived for the start of the tournament.A protester displayed a sign accusing Barclays of being a “sponsor of Wimbledon and genocide”. The October 7, 2023, attack, led by Hamas militants, resulted in the deaths of about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and the kidnapping of 251 people, which triggered the war between Israel and Hamas. According to the Ministry of Health, Israel’s military response has caused the deaths of 56,000 Palestinians, without distinguishing between civilians and combatants. The Ministry indicates that more than half of those who died were women and children. Wimbledon did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Barclays stated it was “proud of its association with Wimbledon” and defended its business practices. In a statement, the company declared: “We offer a range of financial services and products to companies that supply defense products to the UK, NATO, and its allies. As NATO, the EU, and the UK seek to increase their defense capabilities in response to growing geopolitical threats, the provision of financial products and services to the defense sector is increasingly important.”They are the bank of the arms companies that, obviously, are supplying weapons to Israel. We should not be arming Israel, we should not allow anyone to facilitate its arming, and I think ties with Israel should be cut, in the same way that ties with Russia were cut.
Khalid Zalmay, protester
