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Six Activists Disarm Weapons |
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Video
In the early hours of January 17, 2009, six activists turned up at the ITT/EDO arms factory with a ladder and some hammers, and spent a night thoroughly ‘decommissioning' the arms factory from top to bottom.
The ITT/EDO arms factory in Moulescombe, Brighton makes 'zero retention force arming units' and 'ejector release unit 151' which are sold to the Israeli Air Force and are used to kill the people of Gaza.
The activists said that they were 'decommissioning' the factory in solidarity with the people of Gaza, who are currently at the receiving end of the factories products. Outraged by the ongoing genocide in Gaza and the UK and US's involvement in high-tech killing around the world, they explained in a pre-recorded video that the time for talking was over.
“I don't feel I'm going to do anything illegal tonight, but I'm going to go into an arms factory and smash it up to the best of my ability so that it cannot actually work or produce munitions... [which] have been provided to the Israeli army so that they can kill children.” - Elijah Smith, one of the EDO 9.
The activists threw computers and filing cabinets from the top floor and had staged a citizen's decommissioning of the arms factory in direct response to the killings of Palestinians.
EDO designs, develops and manufactures weapon carriage and release systems and is an approved supplier to the Ministry of Defence and governments worldwide.
In the pre-recorded words of Bob; “The Israeli Defence Forces are guilty of war crimes in Gaza. EDO and many other arms manufacturers around the UK are aiding and abetting these humanitarian crimes and war crimes. The action we've taken is intended to hamper or delay the commission of war crimes and prevent this greater crime. The glorification of war and the mass production of arms and weapons is a sickness in the heart of those involved.”
Alongside the six that broke in to the factory, another three protesters are being held in connection with the action. Initially eight of the nine were held in jail, but as of Thursday all but two are now out on strict bail conditions.
Video of EDO factory
BBC article
While some are out pending the trial, two have not been released.
WRITE to them at:
Elijah Smith Prisoner no VP77551 or Robert Alford VP7552
HMP Lewes
1 Brighton Road
Lewes
East Sussex
BN7 1EA
England