Wimbledon, UK – Pro-Palestinian protesters urged Wimbledon to drop Barclays as a sponsor on Monday for a UK bank’s business deal with Israel.
Thousands of fans arrived on the first day of the tournament, demonstrating around 20 protesters from the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign, demonstrated by the main entrance of the All-England Club.
“They are clearly banks of arms companies that supply weapons to Israel,” protester Khalid Zalmei told The Associated Press. “We should not arm Israel. We should not allow anyone to make it easier for them to arm them. And I think we should cut ties with Israel just as our ties with Russia have been cut off.”
One protester held signs that the Barclays was “sponsor of Wimbledon and Genocide.”
Hamas-led militants killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and on October 7, 2023, 251 attacks sparking the Israeli-Hamas war.
Israel’s military response led to the deaths of 56,000 Palestinians, according to the Ministry of Health, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. It is said that more than half of the deaths were women and children.
Wimbledon did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Barclays defended its business practices, saying it was “prideful to its partnership with Wimbledon.”
“We provide a variety of financial services and products to companies that provide defence products to the UK, NATO and its allies,” the company’s statement read. “As NATO, the EU and the UK are trying to improve their defense capabilities in response to an increasing geopolitical threat, making it increasingly important to provide financial products and services to the defense sector.”
