A group of violent pro-Palestine protesters yesterday broke into the UK headquarters of an Israeli-owned arms company—likely taking advantage of current UK-wide chaos following the killing of three young girls in Southport last week.
Members of the Palestine Action protest network, which describes its aim as “dismantling British complicity with Israeli apartheid,” ram-raided Elbit Systems UK’s highly secure Horizon research, development, and manufacturing facility near Bristol.
They were clearly undeterred by prime minister Sir Keir Starmer’s warning that rioters will “feel the full force of the law”—or, perhaps, even encouraged by the fact that almost all his attention has been directed at the ‘far-right.’
The Labour PM has also promised to deploy thousands of police officers to clamp down on rioters, raising the question of how these activists managed to go as far as they did.
More than a dozen protesters used a repurposed prison van to smash through the gates of the hub, causing “significant criminal damage,” according to Avon and Somerset Police.
They also used weapons to assault employees at the site who tried to intervene, and attacked two police officers with a sledgehammer, leaving one female officer hospitalised. Axes, whips, and other homemade weapons were left behind by the activists and have been seized.
Palestine Action was clearly pleased with its work, gloating online that the activists had “directly intervened in Elbit’s genocidal supply chain.”
Police Superintendent Paul Wigginton said that “the criminal damage is bad enough but to attack people with weapons is outrageous.”
It is a sad fact that officers now expect to face acts of violence as they respond to crimes in action and protect the public. This is completely unacceptable and anyone responsible for such shameful behaviour can expect to go to prison.
Enquiries are underway.
The campaign group has targeted Elbit sites in the UK before, and can be expected to do so again, having pledged to “make 2024 the worst year for Elbit yet.”
