Protester from Ashton charged after bank attack

An Ashton woman has been charged with criminal damage to a branch of Barclays Bank in Burnley.

Police remanded 29-year-old Amanda Kelly of Ashlynne after a disturbance on St James’s Street in Burnley town centre in the early hours of Monday morning. 

She is alleged to have been involved in smashing windows and daubing graffiti with red paint on the bank as part of Palestine Action, a group that has targeted around 30 Barclays branches across the UK to “demand the bank divests from Israel's weapons trade and fossil fuels”. 

Three women and two men were arrested in a car a short distance away on Huffling Lane. 

Kelly appeared at Blackburn Magistrates’ Court today (Tuesday, August 6), alongside four others: Humeera Atiqnisar, 29, of Lyons Lane, Chorley; Mohammed Malik, 26, of Addison Street, Blackburn; Brandon O’Hagan, 26, of no fixed address; and Alma Yaniv, 68, of Verney Crescent, Liverpool. 

They have all been charged with criminal damage to a property totalling more than £5,000, which carries a maximum sentence of ten years in prison. 

District Judge Alexandra Preston bailed the defendants to appear at Preston Crown Court on September 3, with their bail conditions banning them from entering Burnley or any branches of Barclays. 

The bank remains closed due to the vandalism.