Pro-Palestinian demonstrators on Monday called on Wimbledon to end its sponsorship agreement with Barclays Bank over the bank’s business ties to Israel. Around 20 activists from the Palestine Solidarity Campaign staged a protest near the main entrance to the All England Lawn Tennis Club, as thousands of fans arrived for the tournament’s opening day.
“They’re the bank of the arms companies supplying weapons to Israel,” protester Khaled Zalmay told the Associated Press. “We shouldn’t be arming Israel, and we shouldn’t allow anyone to help arm it. I think ties with Israel should be cut, just like they were with Russia.”
One demonstrator held a sign reading: “Barclays: Sponsor of Wimbledon and genocide.”
In response, Barclays defended its business practices and reaffirmed its partnership with Wimbledon. “We are proud of our partnership with Wimbledon,” the bank said in a statement. “We provide a range of financial services and products to companies supplying defense equipment to the UK, NATO and their allies.”
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Barclays added that: “As NATO, the EU, and the UK seek to strengthen their defense capabilities in the face of growing geopolitical threats, providing financial services and products to the defense sector is becoming increasingly important.”