PRESS RELEASE
06/08/21
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
- Elbit’s London HQ, at 77 Kingsway, Holborn, has been shut down as Palestine Action activists scale the entrance and prevent access.
- The London HQ – which has been targeted repeatedly since Palestine Action launched 1 year ago – is the hub of Elbit’s UK operations, the core from which their manufacturing of arms for Israel operates.
- Activists have begun occupation of the site entrance, having scaled the building to the entrance overhang, and have sprayed premises in blood-red paint. Activists at the site have been joined by a number of on-street protestors, including a group of drummers.
- Action occurs in the week of Palestine Action’s 1 year anniversary, having shut down Elbit sites and those of its drone-parts-supplier APPH for a combined 105 days of 365
At 10:00 on the morning of Friday 6th August, protestors scaled the entrance of Elbit System’s London HQ, and are currently occupying the site and preventing operations. Activists are disrupting Elbit’s ability to coordinate their business of bloodshed. The facade of the building has been covered in spray-painted calls to ‘evict Elbit’, ‘Shut Elbit Down’ and ‘Free Palestine’. The site premises have been sprayed completely red to signify the bloodshed from which Elbit profits, with their UK-made drones and military tech being used to commit war crimes and repression in Palestine and across the globe.
Despite Elbit massive increasing their spending on security since the launch of Palestine Action, including the hiring of permanent 24/7 security at 77 Kingsway, Palestine Action have shut Elbit down once again. Alongside those currently occupying the site, a group of protestors have turned up to demand Elbit are evicted from their Holborn offices – with a drum regiment also showing up in solidarity.
The London HQ has been targetted several times by Palestine Action since they launched 1 year ago. In that year, Palestine Action has disrupted Elbit for 105 days of 365, across their 10 UK sites plus those of their drone parts supplier APPH, as well as causting further massive costs through in increased spending on security – which has still done nothing to stop activists from shutting them down.
The action taken today, as with all actions by Palestine Action, has been taken in order to end the supply of UK made arms, drones, munitions and military technology to Israel. This tech, manufactured at Elbit’s 10 sites across the UK, is sold to Israel for the express purpose of repressing, brutalising, and killing Palestinian people. After being “battle-tested” (in Elbit’s words) on Palestinian civilians, it is then sold on the global market to some of the world’s most repressive regimes.
ENDS
Attached is an image of today’s action, free to print or reproduce, with credit to be given to VX Pictures
If you would like any further information on this action or on Palestine Action, please contact media@palestineaction.org or our press line on 07707620273
For rolling updates on ongoing actions please check the Palestine Action Twitter account
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.
Elbit Systems
The role of Elbit’s drones in mass slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza: https://corporatewatch.org/elbit-systems-company-profile-2/
UK Ministry of Defence signs £102 million contract with Elbit Systems UK for “sensor-to-shoot” system: https://www.army-technology.com/news/uk-mod-orders-elbit-detect-and-destroy-system/
Israeli forces open fire on Palestinians; hundreds woundedhttps://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/7/9/israel-forces-open-fire-on-palestinians-hundreds-wounded
Elbit ‘drone swarms’ deployed against Gaza: https://www.timesofisrael.com/in-apparent-world-first-idf-deployed-drone-swarms-in-gaza-fighting/