Protesters block BAE Systems, UK Gov. over arms sales to 'Israel'

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: News websites
1 May 2024 18:04

The demonstrators are calling on the UK government to impose an arms embargo on the Israeli occupation government over the war on Gaza.

Pro-Palestinian activists blocking the entrance to the UK's Department of Business and Trade to protest the government’s sale of arms to "Israel" (Social media)

Activists against military arms shipments to the Israeli occupation entity amid the ongoing aggression on the Gaza Strip staged additional protests outside factories across the United Kingdom, the news website The Independent reported Wednesday.

The protests are part of a series of demonstrations outside factories in recent months. Organizers confirmed that over 1,000 workers and trade unionists participated in demonstrations outside British military equipment maker BAE Systems facilities and the London offices of the UK Department for Business and Trade to express solidarity with Palestinian workers.

BAE Systems manufactures components for the F-35 aircraft, currently being used by the Israeli occupation forces in their genocidal war on Gaza.

The Workers for a Free Palestine group declared an escalation of tactics by simultaneously targeting BAE Systems and the UK's Department for Business and Trade. The group's members protested outside factories in Glasgow, South Wales, and Lancashire.

🚨BREAKING: On May Day, over 1,000 workers are blockading the UK Trade Department in London and BAE Systems’ arms factories in Scotland, Wales and Lancashire 🇵🇸 🚩 #StopArmingIsrael pic.twitter.com/1SA89rZ5ju
— Workers for a Free Palestine (@Workers4Pal) May 1, 2024

"Our movement forced the issue of an arms embargo onto the table and polling shows the majority of the British public want to see arms sales to Israel banned, yet the Government and also the Labour Party continue to ignore the will of the people," indicated Tania, one of the organizers.

"The Government has sought to play down the scale of its arms supplies to Israel, but the reality is UK arms and military support play a vital role in the Israeli war machine, and evidence that three British aid workers were killed by a drone partly produced in the UK shows the extent of British complicity in Israel’s genocide," she pointed out.

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators have also blocked the Glasgow shipyard of BAE Systems, calling for a ceasefire and an immediate cessation of civilian killings in Gaza.

Protesters held signs that read: "Stop arming genocide" and "Solidarity not complicity" and chanted "Free, free Palestine" and "Up, up with liberation, down, down with occupation."

"Our fundamental aim is for the UK Government to introduce an arms embargo, it’s the morally right thing to do," said one demonstrator.

"It’s vital that action is taken, it’s been almost seven months of death and destruction in Palestine and the idea that that is being committed by weapons that are being produced in our neighbourhoods is horrifying."

The protester explained that the "long-term goal is an arms embargo from the government but our short term aim here today is to just disrupt business as usual for BAE, to disrupt the manufacture, to cost them time, cost them money and slow down the trade of weapons to Israel."

According to media reports, police arrested three pro-Palestinian protesters amid additional protests.