PRESS RELEASE
11/09/21
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
ACC Liverpool drenched in blood-red paint by Palestine Action to oppose arms fair
- Palestine Action have taken direct action at the site of the 2021 Liverpool Arms Fair, with activists using fire extinguishers to spray blood-red paint over the ACC Exhibition Centre
- Hugely unpopular AOC arms fair is a networking and information sharing oppoprtunity for some of the most malicious arms and technology companies – including Raytheon, Elbit Systems, ELTA, L3 Harris and more
- Protests mount against the exhibition, with more disruption expected and a demonstration against its continued presence planned for 11.30
- Presence of such fairs and exhibitions – including the upcoming DSEI arms fair – serve to validate the operations of these firms, all of which are facilitators and profiteers of global destruction and injustice, from Palestine to Afghanistan.
At 7.00am this morning, Palestine Action activists took direct action to disrupt the 2021 AOC Liverpool Arms Fair, due to be held at the council-owned ACC arena in October. Activists have used fire extinguishers to cover the outisde of the building in blood-red paint, to signify that the companies appearing inside are responsible for manufacture of some of the most cruel and destructive electronic warfare products ever produced.
The hugely unpopular event is going ahead with council support, despite protests mounting against its presence. Direct action taken by Palestine Action activists comes alongside a demonstration against the arms fair being held today by residents, trade unions, councillors and more, calling for the event’s cancellation. Attempts so far to stop the arms fair have failed, and Palestine Action have pledged to take direct action to shut it down if it is not cancelled.
These events – such as the Liverpool Arms Fair and DSEI London – serve two purposes. Firstly, they provide a safe meeting space where firms such as Raytheon, Elbit Systems, ELTA, L3 Harris and more can share their ideas with the MOD and other Western militaries. Secondly, they serve to validate and normalise these firms’ operations, with the British government keen to ensure that global arms firms involved in the facilitation of war crimes feel safe to bring their operations (and their millions) to British soil. These functions are both opposed by Palestine Action and by British citizens, and as such action must be taken to prevent their normalisation and to undermine the presence of the war-crimes-industry.
A video of the action can be seen here: https://twitter.com/Pal_action/status/1436593292800626688?s=20
These firms’ products are responsible for death and destruction across the globe – with two firms in particular having pioneered forms of warfare which have led to indescriminate killing of civilians on a massive scale. Raytheon’s bomb technologies such as the Paveway have been deployed by the Saudi/UAE coalition against Yemeni civilians, killing a truck of 15 women and children in 2016. Elbit Systems, a main target of Palestine Action’s direct action campaign so far, have had their combat drones deployed in bombardments and murder of civilians on an industrial scale in Palestine and elsewhere, including the killing of four children playing on a beach in Gaza in 2014.
ENDS
NOTES TO EDITORS
Liverpool rises in opposition to arms fair: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/opendemocracyuk/liverpool-rises-opposition-arms-fair-legal-challenge-mounted/
Palestine Action
Palestine Action is a direct-action network of groups and individuals formed with the mandate of taking direct action against Elbit Systems’ UK locations at grassroots level, calling for them all to be shut down and for the British government to end its complicity in Israeli apartheid.
A Palestine Action activist on why he takes action against Elbit Systems: https://tribunemag.co.uk/2021/06/why-we-took-direct-action-against-apartheid/