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Palestine solidarity demos in the UK

Got to admire her for keeping at it despite the abuse she has got for supporting Palestinians.

www.walesonline.co.uk

Charlotte Church leads 'Big Sing for Gaza' at Welsh seaside resort

The Welsh singer led a choir singing 'Let Gaza live' on the Barry Island Promenade
www.walesonline.co.uk

"Our government is complicit, America's government is complicit, and other world governments who are complicit in this and are still sending money and weapons to Israel. As a mother it's just too much, it needs to stop, it needs to end. I'll keep coming out until it does. Not just a ceasefire but an end to the occupation. Palestine has been under an apartheid system and a military occupation in Gaza since the 60s, and a really violent military occupation.
 
Gramsci said:
www.theguardian.com

Police accused of stifling protest after Manchester arrest over Palestine chant

Exclusive: Woman banned from city centre after arrest for chanting ‘from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free’
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com

Woman of Palestinian background arrested for chanting From the River to the Sea.

Appalling action by the police.
Click to expand...
It's ironic that a chant, which only might be interpreted as calling for the destruction of Israel - which will never happen - is being used against protesters and in defence of an Israel state that was actually created by destroying a country and expelling it's population. It is, literally, using the law to stop people even theoretically calling for the thing that was done by the country they are protesting against.
 
Bit of a result:
www.palestineaction.org

Palestine Action permanently shut Elbit down in Tamworth

Images of actions at Elite KL are available here Relentless direct action has secured another victory in the fight against Israel’s arms trade, as Elbit Systems are forced to sell […]
www.palestineaction.org www.palestineaction.org
Relentless direct action has secured another victory in the fight against Israel’s arms trade, as Elbit Systems are forced to sell their ‘Elite KL’ factory in Tamworth.

The company had previously manufactured cooling and power management systems for military vehicles, but was sold on after stating that it faced falling profits and increased security costs resulting from Palestine Action’s efforts.

After the sale was completed last month, Elite KL’s new owners, listed as Griffin Newco Ltd, confirmed in an email to Palestine Action that they will have nothing to do with the previous owners, Elbit, and have discontinued any arms manufacturing:

“Following the recent acquisition of Elite KL Limited by a UK investment syndicate, the newly appointed board has unanimously agreed to withdraw from all future defence contracts and terminate its association with its former parent company”.

This victory is a direct result of sustained direct action which has sought, throughout Palestine Action’s existence, to make it impossible for Elbit to afford to operate in Britain. Before they sold the enterprise to a private equity syndicate, Elbit had reported that Elite KL operating profits had been slashed by over three-quarters, with Palestine Action responsible: Elbit directly cited the increased expenditure on security they’d been forced to make, and higher supply chain costs they faced.

And these actions did, indeed, cost them. The first action at the site, in November 2020, saw Elite KL’s premises smashed into, the building covered in blood-red paint. Between March and July 2021, the site was put out of action three times by roof-top occupations – drenched red in March 2021, with the factory’s camera systems dismantled, before again being occupied in in May. Another roof-top occupation in July, despite increased security, saw the site forced closed – once again painted blood-red, and with its windows and fixings smashed through.

In February 2022, activists decommissioned the site for weeks – closed off after an occupation that saw over £250,000 of damages caused, the roof tiles removed one-by-one. After this, Elbit erected a security perimeter around the site – but to no avail. One month later, six were arrested after Palestine Action returned to Tamworth – again taking the roof and smashing through, preventing the production of parts for Israel’s military machine.

Elite KL is a ‘specialist thermal management business’. Since the sale, the company focuses on cooling systems for buses and trains, but it had, under Elbit, manufactured these systems for military vehicles. Until December of last year, Elite KL’s website was advertising its military and defence products, and it was known to provide parts for Israel’s deadly Merkava tanks, with export license records demonstrating its provision of ‘ML6a’ components for military ground vehicles to Israel. The company was also known to manufacture crew cooling systems, for the military vests of tank operators.

Elbit Systems itself provides 85% of the drones and land-based military equipment for the Israeli military, along with a wide range of the munitions and armaments currently being used against Gaza’s beseiged population. Its CEO, Bazhalel Machlis, has claimed that the Israeli military has offered the company its thanks for their “crucial” services during the ongoing genocide in Gaza

A Palestine Action spokesperson has stated:

“Each activist who occupied and dismantled Tamworth’s Israeli weapons factory did so in order to bring an end to Israel’s weapons trade, and to end the profiteering from Palestinian repression. Every defeat Elbit faces is a victory for the Palestinian people.

Kicking Elbit out of Tamworth shows once again that direct action is a necessary tactic. It is one which must be utilised and amplified in the face of the Gaza genocide.”
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Did anyone make it to the march today. I was ill so couldn't

Would have liked to have gone.

Its not just about a ceasefire. Its about holding Israel to account for its actions in Gaza which are ongoing.

And a just peace for the Palestinian people.
 
Na'amod blockaded the entrance to the Foreign Office this morning, demanding aid for Gaza instead of arms for Israel:
www.siasat.com

UK Jewish group demands its govt to end arms exports to Israel

A Jewish group in the UK, Naamod, has demanded the government provide aid to the besieged Gaza Strip rather than sending arms
www.siasat.com www.siasat.com
www.middleeasteye.net

Jewish group blocks entrance to Foreign Office to demand end to Israeli arms sales

Naamod also called on Britain to reverse its decision to defund UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Unrwa
www.middleeasteye.net www.middleeasteye.net

Meanwhile in Yorkshire, Palestine Action have occupied the roof of the Teledyne factory in Shipley:
freedomnews.org.uk

Palestine Action occupy Teledyne Shipley roof - Freedom News

Breaching security, the activists have scaled the factory to take the roof, forcing the site to close.
freedomnews.org.uk freedomnews.org.uk
 
Gramsci said:
Did anyone make it to the march today. I was ill so couldn't

Would have liked to have gone.

Its not just about a ceasefire. Its about holding Israel to account for its actions in Gaza which are ongoing.

And a just peace for the Palestinian people.
Click to expand...
Mrs B went; unfortunately, like you, I was too unwell to join her. She said the usual lovely mix of ages with many families:

1712077151465.png
 
Gramsci said:
Did anyone make it to the march today. I was ill so couldn't
Click to expand...
I was there. I was expecting that it would be relatively small as some people would be away over the Bank Holiday weekend, and during Ramadan. But it was still big. Noticeably less obvious Muslims, but that just showed how many non-Muslims took part. It was announced from the stage that 150,000 took part. I was glad I went.
There was a small counter demonstration by about 30 pro-Israel Zionists and far right at junction with Waterloo Bridge.
 
tony.c said:
I was there. I was expecting that it would be relatively small as some people would be away over the Bank Holiday weekend, and during Ramadan. But it was still big. Noticeably less obvious Muslims, but that just showed how many non-Muslims took part. It was announced from the stage that 150,000 took part. I was glad I went.
There was a small counter demonstration by about 30 pro-Israel Zionists and far right at junction with Waterloo Bridge.
Click to expand...
Any pics of the counter demo?
 
Magnus McGinty said:
Must be somewhat of a dilemma for sections of the far right as to which side to choose on this one.
Click to expand...
The other month when there was a tiny far-right crank demo (organised by James Harvey, who was out with the Tommy Robinson/cenotaph defenders lot in November) that was suddenly confronted by a huge Palestine demo, a few of the attendees tried joining in with the free Palestine chants, at the same time as Brian Stovell was stood next to them shouting "Israel! Israel! Come on you cunts!" Quite a memorable scene.
 
It’s a bit like Ireland. You’ll get the British patriots glad that they’re under or wanting them under a boot. And then the White supremascists that see them as brothers.
 
RevolutionSound said:
Update - it's now over £4000
Click to expand...
Thats excellent. I went to some of it on Sunday. Great atmosphere. Always impressed by Birmingham Black Sisters network who i think were behind the poetry and artivism? Poets were ace and there was a talk by a Palestinian woman running a medical charity in West Bank. She was incredible in getting people focused on what can be done.
 
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