Approximately two dozen demonstrators from the Palestine Solidarity Campaign gathered outside Wimbledon’s main entrance on Monday, urging the tennis championships to end their sponsorship deal with Barclays.
The protesters assembled by the All England Club gates as thousands of spectators arrived for the tournament’s opening day, accusing the British bank of complicity in alleged war crimes through its business relationships with defence companies linked to Israel..
Demonstrators displayed banners and chanted slogans targeting Barclays, with one placard declaring the bank a “sponsor of Wimbledon and genocide”.
The protest took place just yards from Centre Court as the prestigious tournament began its 2025 edition
Protesters chanted “Barclays bank, you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide” whilst holding placards reading “Barclays serves Israel’s genocide”.
The sign claimed Barclays to be the ‘official sponsor of Wimbledon & Genocide’
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An artist participating in the demonstration unveiled a memorial installation commemorating Hind Rajab, a five-year-old Palestinian girl killed in Gaza on 24 January last year.
The installation featured a silver car riddled with numbered bullet holes, recreating the vehicle in which Hind died after her family were ordered to evacuate their home by the Israel Defence Force.
According to protesters, Hind’s family car was struck by an IDF tank shell.
The demonstration included photographs of children killed in Gaza displayed alongside the bullet-riddled vehicle.
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Protestors congregated outside Wimbledon, just outside Centre Court
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Barclays defended its sponsorship, stating it is “proud of our partnership with Wimbledon” and maintains that it provides “financial services and products to companies supplying defense products to the UK, NATO and its allies”.
The bank added: “As NATO, the EU and UK seek to increase their defense capabilities in response to increasing geopolitical threats, the provision of financial products and services to the defense sector is becoming increasingly important.”
Protester Khalid Zalmay told The Associated Press: “They’re the bank for the arms companies that are obviously supplying weapons to Israel.
“We should not be arming Israel, we should not be allowing anybody to facilitate arming them, and I think ties should be cut with Israel, the same way that ties were cut with Russia.”
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Lewis Backon, 29, campaigns officer for PSC, said: “Barclays sponsors big sporting events to cover its accountability in funding the war.
“I think Barclays has had a lot of reputational damage because it’s complicit in Israel’s genocide in Palestine.”
He added: “Last summer, [Barclays] were forced to walk away from all of their sponsorships of music festivals in the UK after hundreds of bands and artists refused to perform at their events.”
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The protestors occured outside the infamous Centre Court
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Damian McCarthy, 53, a lawyer and organiser with the PSC, told PA: “I’m a local resident and a lot of people in Wimbledon think the genocide in Gaza is appalling.
“We want to raise awareness. Barclays’ investment in genocide is wrong. It’s not about Wimbledon, it’s not about tennis, it’s about the investment in genocide, and we’ve got to stop it.”
The protests come after music bands Bob Vylan and Kneecap produced controversial performances at Glastonbury festival on Saturday.
Bob Vylan, a London-based English punk-rap duo, was seen shouting “death to the IDF” in a performances streamed live on the BBC.
Avon and Somerset Police announced on Monday they have launched a criminal investigation into their performances at Glastonbury.
Bob Vylan also had their US visas revoked due to the controversy.
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