Bank shuts in Bath Gaza protest

A bank has defended its decision to close its doors in the face of an anti-war protest in the city centre.

Customers at Lloyds TSB on Milsom Street were forced to leave via the rear exit after staff decided to shut the main entrance.

The bank was one of three high street firms targeted by protesters who marched through the city centre calling for an end to the conflict in Gaza on Saturday.

Protesters distributed leaflets claiming Lloyds TSB had forced the closure of the bank account of Interpal, a humanitarian charity which supplies food and medical care to Palestinian refugees.

Pensioner Brenda Gunter-Smith was inside the bank when the doors were closed and customers were led to the Green Street exit at around 1pm.

The 73-year-old said: “I had gone in to draw out some money when the doors were closed.”

Mrs Gunter-Smith has banked with Lloyds for more than 40 years and said she had never experienced anything like Saturday afternoon’s events.

A spokeswoman for Lloyds TSB said: “The safety and security of our staff and customers is always our top priority and the decision to close the branch was taken in the best interests of those inside at the time.”

Retired counsellor and long time Lloyds account holder Misha Carder said she would be closing her account with the bank after 28 years in the light of the information distributed by the protesters.

The 64-year-old said: “I have children and grandchildren and what is going on in Palestine is so horrifying I can’t imagine it happening to my children and my grandchildren.”

The protesters also stopped to chant anti-war slogans outside Starbucks in Old Bond Street and Marks and Spencer in Stall Street, both of which were accused of providing financial assistance to Israel in leaflets handed out to shoppers.

Graphic designer Jack Owen travelled with his family from Bruton to be a part of the protest.

The 37-year-old brought his three young children to the march and said the amount of suffering experienced by people in Palestine was appalling.

Mr Owen said: “It is important that as many people as possible come out and express their disgust at the Israeli policies.

“It think it is so good people are coming out and speaking out and supporting the Palestinians because they have nothing.”

Retired nurse Judith Hammond spent three months last year working with an international churches programme in the West Bank and joined the march through Bath.

Mrs Hammond said: “I saw just how the occupation affects ordinary Palestinians and every journey that involves crossing checkpoints is governed with uncertainty.

“People are made to wait up to four hours to cross these checkpoints.

“Life is hard out there and in one village I met two mothers who were refused permits to go and visit their children in the next village.”

The protest was organised and led by members of the Bath Activist Network (BAN), the Stop the War Coalition and the Bath CND.

BAN spokesman Steve Jones said: “We are calling for a ceasefire but there also needs to be reparations for the Palestinian people who need their land back.

“They need not to be prisoners in their own country.”

Marks and Spencers did not comment on the protest, while Starbucks released a statement earlier this month claiming rumours that the company and its management supported Israel were unequivocally false.

A spokesman for the coffee shop chain said: “Starbucks is a non-political organisation and does not support political causes.”

In a statement after the protest, Lloyds TSB said it “does not hold and never has held accounts for Interpal.”

In October, Lloyds TSB wrote to the Interpal’s bankers, the Islamic Bank of Britain, saying it would not be prepared to process any transactions relating to Interpal.

The statement added: “Furthermore, we would not direct, nor would it be appropriate for us to direct other institutions on how to deal with its own customers. It is not our policy, nor would it be appropriate, for us to go into further detail.”