A GIANT PUPPET NAMED the “Fierce Protector” joined forces with several protesters who blocked the entrance to Wells Fargo’s global headquarters this week.
Oil and Gas Action Network, an organization that mobilizes people to protest the expansion of fossil fuels and companies that invest in it, asked several local groups to rally in front of the bank’s headquarters on Montgomery Street. The network says Wells Fargo’s recent actions to abandon their climate commitments were unacceptable and that the bank should be pressured to divest from projects they believe are detrimental to the planet.
Protesters arrived and blocked employees from entering by sitting at the entrance and using gray cardboard pipes that created a physical barrier. Others painted a mural in a nearby plaza reading, “Wells Fargo Funds Genocide.”
When asked for comment about the actions of the protesters in San Francisco and the issues they raised, Wells Fargo declined to comment.
Members of Standing Rock Sioux and Cheyenne River tribal nations also participated in the rally, denouncing the funding of projects like the Dakota Access Pipeline and investments into companies that provide technical resources for Israel and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The blockade ended when the San Francisco Police Department mobilized a group of officers to disperse the protesters. Officers announced they would arrest demonstrators if they didn’t move. When none of the individuals blocking the doors relocated, they were detained.
Today’s actions are just the beginning of a response to Wells Fargo’s enabling of the rise of authoritarianism.
Leah Redwood, San Francisco organizer
The Oil and Gas Action Network organized the protest simultaneously with Planet Over Profit, another activist group that attempts to pressure large companies, at the bank’s New York City corporate office.
Both groups said they wanted to make an explicit statement to Wells Fargo about their dissatisfaction with the company’s investments.
“Today’s actions are just the beginning of a response to Wells Fargo’s enabling of the rise of authoritarianism,” said Leah Redwood, one of the San Francisco organizers, in a written statement. “Wells Fargo is complicit in so many injustices. Whether it’s the climate crisis or union busting or Trump’s mass deportations or the atrocities in Gaza, Wells Fargo is behind it.”
Local San Franciscan Susan Freinkel helped hold up a large banner with the words, “WELLS FARGO, STOP FRACKING US AND INVEST IN OUR FUTURE” in front of the building’s glass doors.
She said she was not heavily involved in the planning of the protest, but her observations of Wells Fargo’s business practices deeply concerned her. She said her husband helped educate her about the bank’s actions, leading them to sign up for a credit union and abandon their business with Wells Fargo.
“For a brief period, it looked like the money might flow for more sustainable environmental things, but that’s all turning back,” said Freinkel. “I’m just so appalled watching all that sort of stuff getting rolled back for climate under Trump. We’re seeing it get invested in things like pipeline or in weapons that they used in Gaza, or, I believe, in weapons that are used by ICE. That’s where the money is flowing.”
San Francisco police said in an email that they first encountered people engaging in “First Amendment activity” at 8:05 a.m. They said the group moved to a nearby plaza to continue with their activity while officers observed. The department neither confirmed nor commented on the arrest of several protesters who were escorted from the entrance to a police van.
For rally goers, the Wells Fargo protest wasn’t expected to cause widereaching, immediate change. They very bluntly said they didn’t expect much, if anything, to happen, but hoped the demonstration would help to educate some people about the actions of the bank and cultivate change.
“I sort of feel, where possible, you just sort of want to vent your frustration and start to build some kind of movement,” said Freinkel. “This is a very small action, but it’s brought together people from a lot of different organizations, and hopefully it’s the seed of something larger that starts to put pressure on banks like Wells Fargo.”