XR Boston Risks Arrest at Chase Bank in Downtown Boston!

On Thursday October 30, climate activists from Extinction Rebellion Boston (XR) disrupted business as usual at the Bank of America on Federal Street in downtown Boston and then the Chase Bank on Washington St. to protest the banks’ funding of fossil fuels, ecocide, and the genocide in Palestine. XR activists risked arrest by peacefully blocking the doors to JPMorganChase to symbolize that “monster banks” must close their funding of ecocide and genocide. They allowed bank customers to leave the building, but disrupted bank activities.

In 2023, JPMorganChase and Bank of America clocked in as the #1 and #3 largest fossil fuel funders, respectively. Both banks have reneged on their promises to cease funding coal mines, and Bank of America has abandoned its exclusion on Arctic drilling.1 Bank of America and JPMorganChase have collectively underwritten more than $4.2 billion in war bonds to Israel since the start of the genocide in Gaza.2

Members of Extinction Rebellion Boston (XR Boston), wearing black, gathered in front of the Bank of America on Federal Street in downtown Boston. While a brass band played, celebrated activists delivered speeches denouncing Bank of America and other “monster banks.” Afterwards, the crowd marched to a nearby JPMorganChase Bank branch at 425 Washington Street, where activists participated in a “die-in,” lying on the ground in front of the bank to demonstrate the millions of human and non-human lives already lost. Other activists inside the Chase bank blocked the doors in a nonviolent and peaceful protest against JPMorganChase’s funding of fossil fuels and genocide. At the time of this article, no arrests have been made, but are very possible as the sit-in goes on.

The Greater Boston area has seen numerous protests against the genocide and ecocide in Palestine since October 2023. Student protestors took a stand in encampments on the campuses of Emerson College, Northeastern University, Boston University, and Tufts University, among many others. Earlier this year, protesters demonstrated outside a Capitol One cafe in Cambridge, with signs condemning Israel and calling for a free Palestine. Banks have, globally, underwritten more than $19 billion in Israeli war bonds,3 which have funded the genocide that has, to date, killed more than 67,000 Palestinians, a third of whom were children.4 Israeli forces have destroyed 87.7% of schools in Gaza, and they have damaged or destroyed at least 94% of hospitals in Gaza.5 6

When asked why she was protesting at Bank of America, Olivia B, a rebel with XR Boston, said “the ecocide and genocide in Palestine is the kind of life-altering, grave event I'll have to explain to my kids one day - why it happened, and why we let it happen. I'm here today protesting the monster banks that have funded Israel and the genocide because they need to be held accountable, and they need to divest from Israel to mitigate further harm. Palestine is mourning over 20,000 children who should have had the opportunity to grow up and live full lives. Banks aren't the only piece of this puzzle, but money is always an important piece - Bank of America and Chase Bank should have to reckon with the lives they've taken, and ruined. And they shouldn't be allowed to continue funding genocide with impunity.”

Bank of America and JPMorganChase aren’t just funding a genocide; they’re also funding the climate crisis. Despite pledges in 2022 to stop financing coal mines, coal-burning power plants and Arctic drilling projects, Bank of America and JPMorganChase have both gone back on these promises. Both banks remain the #1 and #2 coal industry funders, with Bank of America contributing $6.8 billion and JPMorganChase contributing $5.1 billion.7 In 2022, burning coal contributed 19% of total energy-related C02 emissions in the US.8 And coal is far from the only fossil fuel funded by Bank of America. Last year, Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey said, “This year’s report is clear - banks are gambling our future on risky investments that fuel the climate crisis. In 2023 alone, banks invested more than $700 billion in fossil fuels despite having net-zero commitments. Let’s keep these big banks accountable, not just counting on fossil fuels. Instead, we should invest in our future.” However, US banks have only continued to double down on their fossil fuel investments.

“For Halloween this year I’m protesting a monster bank because it funds fossil fuel projects and businesses that are killing our planet. Even though climate disasters are worse every year, last year Chase increased its funding of fossil fuels, keeping it the largest funder of fossil fuels in the world. It’s the wrong choice, and we are demanding that they stop making it,” said Bob Keener, a rebel with XR Boston who risked arrest at JPMorganChase.

Sam B is an XR rebel from Arlington who also participated in the action. When asked why they demonstrated at Bank of America and JPMorganChase, they said, "I want to see real action on improving the lives of the people, plants, and animals on this planet rather than improving payouts to greedy politicians and investors. There is no other way to get change than to demand it."

Extinction Rebellion Boston demands that Bank of America and JPMorganChase divest from fossil fuel companies and infrastructure, as well as the Israeli war machine.

Two years of student encampments and ardent protests, in Boston and across the country, have shown that Americans want a livable future with clean air and water, and they want that for Palestinians too. Bank of America and JPMorganChase’s so-called support for the Paris Agreement, with a goal to “achieve net zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in our financing activities, operations and supply chain before 2050,” simply hasn’t been enough. Both have withdrawn from a bank consortium that supposedly was addressing the looming climate catastrophe.

2025 has been a stark year for climate news, and news out of Palestine. On October 10th, Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire in Gaza, but there have already been early signs of the ceasefire crumbling, and even in the absence of violence Israel refuses to let in aid.9 And it comes after two years of utter devastation in Gaza. In November, the UN will hold COP30 - the climate change conference that, this year, will take place in Brazil. This comes on the heels of President Trump once again removing the US from the Paris Agreement, and on the heels of the vast majority of the countries who signed the Paris Agreement failing to submit their updated climate plans to meet the targets in the agreement.10

Banks exist to serve the people - they are funded by our hard-earned money, and that money shouldn’t be used for anything we don’t approve of. Extinction Rebellion’s protests outside Chase Bank and Bank of America sent a clear message - the people don’t want to fund fossil fuels or genocide.

1. https://www.sierraclub.org/press-releases/2024/05/top-6-us-banks-financed-fossil-fuels-18-trillion-paris-agreement-chase-citi
2. https://www.banktrack.org/news/seven_underwriters_of_war_bonds_instrumental_in_enabling_israel_s_assault_on_gaza_new_research_finds
3. https://www.banktrack.org/news/seven_underwriters_of_war_bonds_instrumental_in_enabling_israel_s_assault_on_gaza_new_research_finds
4. https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/how-many-palestinians-has-israels-gaza-offensive-killed-2025-10-07/
5. https://www.savethechildren.net/blog/education-under-attack-gaza-nearly-90-school-buildings-damaged-or-destroyed
6. https://www.who.int/news/item/22-05-2025-health-system-at-breaking-point-as-hostilities-further-intensify--who-warns
7. https://www.banktrack.org/article/three_years_after_glasgow_banks_global_coal_financing_on_the_rise_again
8. https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/coal/coal-and-the-environment.php
9. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2025/10/23/live-un-urges-israel-to-allow-medical-evacuation-from-gaza-amid-ceasefire
10. https://grist.org/international/ndc-deadlines-paris-agreement-cop30/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=weekly