Images and videos from the action are available via Dropbox
This morning, Palestine Action activists have, once again, managed to halt business-as-usual at the centre of Elbit System’s operations in Britain, at their headquarters located at ‘Aztec West 600’ in Bristol. That site is used by Elbit – Israel’s largest weapons company – to oversee their logistical, financial, and operational affairs throughout the country, making it a key hub for Israel’s arms trade in Britain.
Activists have used a van to blockade the road leading to the site, directly outside the premises’ gates, affixing themselves to it to prevent its removal. From inside, and utilising holes cut in the van roof, they have launched red paint at the Elbit site – to mark it in a symbol of the Palestinian bloodshed staining Elbit’s profits. They are intending to hold the blockade for as long as is possible, preventing the headquarters from opening and thus hindering the manufacture and supply of weaponry to Israel.
This is far from the first time that Palestine Action has blockaded Elbit’s Bristol HQ in the months since Israel’s genocide in Gaza commenced [1, 2, 3]. Today’s action has successfully forced the site closed despite the ongoing police harassment of activists in Bristol – last week conducting a raid on a dwelling to make 9 arrests [4]. It is obvious, however, that the need to shut this site, and all Elbit sites, down could not be more urgent: their weapons are playing a central role in Israel’s campaign in Gaza, which has already claimed over 34,000 Palestinian lives. According to Israeli media, Elbit provides up to 80% of the Israeli military’s land based military equipment [5] and 85% of its military drones [6]. It supplies vast numbers of munitions and missiles – including the ‘Iron Sting’ recently developed and deployed for the first time in the 2023-2024 Genocide in Gaza [7], along with wide categories of surveillance technologies, targeting systems, and innumerate other armaments.
We have a moral duty therefore not to permit these weapons to be manufactured in Britain, if we wish to not be complicit in Israel’s genocidal acts. Underscoring this risk of complicity, Somerset Council’s CEO last week reversed the democratic decision of the Council – apologising to Elbit for passing a motion which provided the mandate for evicting the weapons giant from the Aztec West site ultimately owned by Somerset Council [8]. Palestine Action have made clear that this site, and Elbit generally, should not be permitted to operate- and that activists will continue to take direct action until it is shut down permanently.
ENDS
NOTES TO EDITORS
If you would like any further information on Palestine action, please contact media@palestineaction.org
Palestine Action is a direct-action network of groups and individuals formed with the mandate of taking action against the sites of Elbit Systems and other companies complicit in Israeli genocide and apartheid, calling for all such sites to be shut down.
[1] https://freedomnews.org.uk/2024/02/15/palestine-action-blockade-elbits-bristol-hq/
[2] https://freedomnews.org.uk/2024/02/15/palestine-action-blockade-elbits-bristol-hq/
[4] https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/pro-palestine-group-arrested-overnight-9249698
[6] – https://corporatewatch.org/elbit-systems-company-profile-2/#sdendnote2sym