PALESTINE activists mobilised in 10 towns and cities across northern England today in a day of action against Barclays Bank.

In Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, Blackburn, Bolton, Huddersfield, Stockport, Bradford, Altrincham and Preston, Palestinian flags were raised as protesters picketed or occupied Barclays branches, urging customers to close their accounts with the bank.

Barclays invests in arms firms supplying Israel with weapons used to suppress Palestinians and in Israel’s current murderous attacks on the people of Gaza.

The mobilisation in the north-west and Yorkshire came as the Palestinian death toll in Gaza passed 24,000, with many more believed buried beneath the rubble of bombed and shelled buildings.

Half the dead are reported to be children.

In Manchester, Barclays shut its branch as protesters outside urged customers to switch their accounts to a branch of the Nationwide next door.

One protester, who did not want to be named, told the Morning Star: “That’s what we’re doing now: asking customers to close their accounts with Barclays because Barclays is making its customers and clients complicit in Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

“But it’s about more than Gaza, more than over 24,000 killed, more than the hospitals, schools, mosques and homes flattened: It’s about 75 years of oppression and apartheid.

“Barclays invested in apartheid South Africa. Now it invests in apartheid Israel, and it is South Africa that is making charges of genocide against Israel.

“We asked people not to bank with Barclays during apartheid South Africa. Now we are asking them not to use Barclays because it invests in Israeli apartheid.”

The north-west protests were organised by Greater Manchester Friends of Palestine, an umbrella group involving a dozen Palestine support groups that include Manchester Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Muslim Association of Britain, Manchester Jewish Action for Palestine, Greater Manchester Stop the War Coalition, Greater Manchester CND and Jewish Voice For Labour.

John Nicholson of Manchester PSC said: “As Ken Loach said in the Morning Star on Saturday, we have to turn protests into action. The government is not going to listen to protests alone.”

In West Yorkshire, Barclays bank branches in Huddersfield and Bradford were targeted for protests.

Huddersfield protesters included members of the Kirklees Trades Union Council.