City Council Member Letitia James is leading a protest against Commerce Bank, saying that it should be closed on Martin Luther King Jr. Day out of respect to the late civil rights activist.

A spokeswoman for Commerce Bank, Rebecca Acevedo, said the bank is open on most holidays, including the Fourth of July, Columbus Day, and Presidents Day. “We appreciate people trying to recognize an important holiday,” Ms. Acevedo said yesterday. “If employees need to take a day off that’s fine, but we just want to be there for our customers. It’s the same as Target would be or any retailer. We very much have a retailer philosophy, we’re open seven days a week and until eight in the evening.”

She added that some employees participate in community volunteer programs through the bank on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Yesterday, Ms. James, who is a member of the Working Families Party, along with state Senator John Sampson, a Democrat of Brooklyn, said banks should be closed out of respect for King’s focus on poverty. Ms. James added that the issue was relevant to banks these days given the subprime mortgage crisis, which threatens some homeowners with foreclosure.

“By remaining open Commerce Bank trivializes the memory and the legacy of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King,” Ms. James said in front of a Commerce Bank branch near Borough Hall in Brooklyn. “And we urge Commerce Bank to reconsider its position and not reduce the holiday to nothing more than a convenient commercial transaction.”