The Barclays Extinction Rebellion graffiti is being treated as a criminal offence by the police

The spray painting that appeared on the front of Barclays bank on Lincoln High Street last Thursday, is being investigated as a criminal damage offence.

The climate change activist group, Extinction Rebellion Lincolnshire, have already taken responsibility for the messages that appeared on Thursday evening.

In a statement, they say that they targeted Barclays because they are a huge financial backer of the fossil fuel industry, and according to the Banking on Climate Change report, Barclays is also the worst offender in Europe.

Messages were spray painted on Barclays bank by activists

They have since hung banners across the city to promote their message of a "climate emergency".

A number of people across the community have condoned the actions of Extinction Rebellion.

Chloe Etchells, first year Zoology student told The Lincoln Tab: "I think that it’s a shock to a lot of people, and a lot of people are immediately against it because it is vandalism.

"But the point of the 'rebellion' is to commit minor peaceful crimes to try and create a dialogue about the environment.

"Their minor peaceful crimes are pretty insignificant when you’re talking about the death of our entire species".

Banners similar to above have been spotted all over the city

However, some are saying they do not agree with the actions of XR Lincolnshire.

A third year Computer Science student, who would not like to be named said: "They've promoted themselves as something of a cult within the city and their "thing" appears to be vandalising for promotion.

"That's fine as far as sticking on poles goes, but when you vandalise a business you're absolutely crossing a line, not to mention the environmental impact that aerosols have.

"Now the council has to pay someone to clean that vandalism: they aren't helping the environment, they're damaging it".

Lincolnshire Police told The Lincoln Tab: "We received a report – incident 424 of 04/04 – at 21:42pm, that graffiti had been sprayed on glass outside a building.

"We are investigating this as criminal damage to a commercial premises on Lincoln High Street".