By Palestine Chronicle Staff  

The Palestine Action activists used a repurposed prison van to crash into the heavily guarded Elbit Systems factory in the Filton area of Bristol.

British counterterrorism police have charged seven Palestine Action activists with violent disorder for breaking into an Israeli-owned weapons facility.

The activists, aged between 20 and 51, were detained under the Terrorism Act, allowing the police to hold them for up to 7 days, with a possible extension to 14 days, without charge, according to Palestine Action.

Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service said seven people, aged between 20 and 51, had been charged with criminal damage, violent disorder and aggravated burglary over the incident at the Elbit premises in South Gloucestershire, Reuters reported.

BREAKING: Actionists are currently being detained without charge. Full statement below👇 pic.twitter.com/eyDUXyp6Kd

— Palestine Action (@Pal_action) August 10, 2024

Last week, the activists used a repurposed prison van to crash into the heavily guarded Elbit Systems factory in the Filton area of Bristol.

Video footage shared by the organization showed activists inside the facility as they damaged equipment and sprayed red paint on the building’s walls.

Biggest Weapons Firm

In a statement, Palestine Action said the Filton premises were the “brand new £35m R&D hub of Israel’s biggest weapons firm.”

“Its June 2023 opening was attended by the UK-Israeli Ambassador Hotevely, and Elbit’s CEO Bezhalel Machlis – who has frequently boasted of the company’s central role in Israel’s military, during the ongoing Gaza genocide,” the statement said.

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In addition to holding the activists “under unprecedented powers,” the group said, “police have launched a smear campaign against the detained actionists, alleging violence against police and security guards.”

“The activists are unable to respond to these claims, and unable to describe for public record the force used against them by police and private security,” it added.

‘Authoritarian Powers’

Palestine Action “contends that these statements are designed to prejudice opinion and legal proceedings against activists, and to lay the groundwork for the police’s unjust use of authoritarian powers.”

The activists were due to appear in court later on Tuesday.

The organization has been targeting Elbit Systems across the UK as “direct action” against Israel’s arms trade in Britain, including factories in Oldham, Shenstone and the company’s London headquarters.

With direct action against the arms manufacturer, it “aims to disrupt this: targeting the source of colonial violence and genocide against the Palestinian people, undermining Elbit’s profiteering from Israel’s daily massacres.”

Founded in 1966, Elbit Systems reportedly supplies around 85 percent of the Israeli military’s land and air munitions.

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Staggering Death Toll

Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza.

Israel is currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians since it began waging a devastating war on Gaza last October.

According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 39,897 Palestinians have been killed, and 92,152 wounded. Moreover, at least 11,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.

Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire’.

Mass Displacement

Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.

The Israeli war has resulted in an acute famine, mostly in northern Gaza, resulting in the death of many Palestinians, mostly children.

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The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.

Later in the war, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians began moving from the south to central Gaza in a constant search for safety.

(PC, MEMO)