Extinction Rebellion staged an eye-catching protest outside HBSC in Blandford Forum. They cleaned the exterior as part of a national protest against its “dirty” fossil fuel investments.

Sonja Glass, a medical secretary from Blandford who attended the protest said: “HSBC is Europe’s second largest financer of fossil fuels after Barclays. “For the sake of every living thing on the planet we need system change not climate change now.”

Protesters say HSBC has provided £80bn to carbon- intensive projects since the Paris Agreement in 2015, making it one of the top banks for funding the destruction of biodiversity.

Peter Aldous, retired ship captain from Blandford, said: “The use of fossil fuels is already contributing to the sixth mass extinction of life on Earth and will pose a massive threat to human civilisation. I’m 75 so the worst effects may not be felt in my lifetime, but my children’s and grandchildren’s lives are in peril. Banks must invest in clean energy, not in polluters.”

XR Wimborne spokesman Joanna Bury said: “We demand HSBC divest from fossil fuels and halt their destruction of nature by 2025. 2050 is a death sentence for our planet.”

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