Green protestors target RBS
Thursday, 5 March 2009 5:40 PM
By Ian Dunt
Green activists will protest outside of Royal Bank of Scotland's (RBS) HQ in London today in protest at bailouts for a bank which gives loans to polluting industries.
In a statement released to the press, Climate Rush, a green protest group, said the demonstration reflected anger at the £33 billion RBS have received in bail-outs and the £16 million pension fund received by failed former RBS boss Sir Fred Goodwin - but also at the £16 billion worth of loans awarded to the coal industry by RBS in the last two years.
East of England Green party candidates for June's European elections will be joining the protest.
Councillors Rupert Read and Peter Lynn will be joining the protest, near Liverpool Street, around 13:00 GMT.
Cllr Read said: "RBS is the UK's biggest sponsor of climate change and finances a whole range of environmentally devastating projects from oil extraction from the Canadian tar sands to the Kingsnorth power station.
"Now that the bank is 60 per cent public owned and has received so many billions of pounds in public money these unacceptable practices must stop.
"It's all the worse to make such profits and wreak such havoc using taxpayers money and with the direct financial support of a government which professes to be serious about tackling the climate crisis."
The protest is just the latest headache for RBS which has been in the media spotlight for nearly two weeks now as the fine print of Sir Fred's pension is pored over by lawyers and civil servants.
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