Members of Amnesty International Isle of Man and a group of Palestine Solidarity activists held a demonstration outside Barclays Bank in Douglas earlier this month.

The protest, which took place on Saturday, October 11, aimed to highlight what the campaigners described as the bank’s financial links to companies supplying weapons and military technology used by Israel in its military operations in Gaza.

In a statement, the group said the event was organised to raise awareness of what they described as Barclays’ ‘complicity’ in alleged human rights abuses against Palestinians.

Leaflets were handed out to members of the public in Victoria Street during the demonstration.

But Barclays has previously rejected similar claims.

The campaigners cited a report published in May 2024 by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) which claimed that Barclays invests £2 billion in, and provides loans worth £6.1 billion to, companies supplying weapons used by Israel in Gaza and the West Bank. It also stated that the bank acts as a ‘primary dealer’ for Israeli government bonds.

A separate group involved in the protest is seeking to establish an Isle of Man branch of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign. PSC describes itself as the largest organisation of its kind in the British Isles, with more than 70 local groups in the UK and a number in Ireland and the Channel Islands.

Responding to similar protests at other branches, the bank told Reuters in May 2024 that it ‘does not invest in defence companies supplying Israel’ and that it trades shares only ‘in response to client instruction or demand’. Barclays said it provides financial services to defence firms supplying the UK, NATO, and allied governments.

Amnesty Isle of Man chair Phil Matthews said: ‘Amnesty International Isle of Man will continue with its core work of campaigning to protect people wherever justice, freedom, truth and dignity are denied, as we have done here on the island for the past 34 years.’