Protestors from the North Herts Palestine solidarity campaign took to the streets of Hitchin last weekend, calling for residents to partake in a boycott of Barclays Bank.

A group of residents protested outside the Hitchin branch of the bank, handing out leaflets and urging people to close their accounts with the banking giant.

The campaign argues that Barclays invests £2bn in companies whose weapons are part of Israeli attacks on Gaza.

Supporters of Palestine have long called for boycotts of businesses that they believe have a harmful effect on efforts to restore peace in the Middle East.

Protestors are keen to stress that this demonstration was aimed at raising public awareness for the campaign and was not intended to target members of staff at the branch.

North Herts Palestine Solidarity Campaign branch chairperson Martin Burke said: “Mass boycotts helped pressure Barclays to withdraw from Apartheid South Africa in the 1980s.

"We’re building a similar mass movement today, both as a response to what’s happening in Gaza and to address Israel’s longer-term treatment of Palestinians, which is now recognised as a case of apartheid by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, countless UN experts, and Israel’s own leading human rights organisations.”

The campaign has called for customers to close their accounts with Barclays by July 11, claiming that more than 2,500 people have already done so as a result of protests across the country.

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Earlier this year, Barclays responded to criticism and insisted that it does not invest in weapons that are used in the conflict in Gaza.

Barclays website states: "We have been asked why we invest in nine defence companies supplying Israel, but this mistakes what we do.

"We trade in shares of listed companies in response to client instruction or demand and that may result in us holding shares.

"We are not making investments for Barclays and Barclays is not a 'shareholder' or 'investor' in that sense in relation to these companies."