Barclays’ shareholder meeting disrupted by protesters

Environmental protesters have disrupted banking giant Barclays’ annual meeting for shareholders in central London.

A few minutes into the meeting, chairman Nigel Higgins was interrupted by a chorus of singers causing several minutes of disruption.

Singing a version of the Spice Girls’ Thank You Very Much, the group sang: “Stop right now, no more oil and gas. Stop burning fossil fuels and end this madness.

“Hey you, burning up the earth… we’ve had enough.”

Mr Higgins eventually responded: “Obviously we are very happy to hear opinions of what we do but maybe better to wait for the Q&A and have a two-way discussion.”

Several protesters continued to disgruntle Mr Higgins by standing up and shouting about the bank’s impact on climate change.

One protester shouted: “Barclays funds climate chaos – people are dying right now. The largest funder of fossil fuels in Europe.”

One protester was carried out of the building for refusing to move, with his shouts drowned out by Barclays’ company secretary Hannah Ellwood, who continued to run through the meeting agenda.