Latest news with #directaction
Times
14 hours ago
- Politics
- Times
Palestine Action group shows no signs of slowing down
'We are tired of being ignored. It is up to all of us to stop this complicity' were the words that launched Palestine Action almost five years ago. Founded by Huda Ammori, who has Palestinian and Iraqi heritage, and Richard Barnard, a veteran left-wing activist, the fledgling group said direct action should be taken against Elbit Systems, a weapons manufacturer that they claim 'profits from Israel's war crimes'. Two months later, in September 2020, they did just that. Activists occupied a factory in Shenstone, in Staffordshire, smashing windows, drilling holes into ceilings, throwing air conditioning units to the ground and dousing the building in red paint. The demonstration marked the start of co-ordinated attempts to damage both the defence firm facilities and finances across the country, which have propelled the group on a path towards proscription. Throughout 2021 Palestine Action widened its activities, occupying a drone factory in Leicester. The occupation lasted six days, and ten arrests were made for conspiracy to commit criminal damage and aggravated trespass. The defendants were cleared after the trial judge instructed the jury to consider the common law defence of Necessity. After launching their Scottish branch, they targeted Thales, another defence firm. Having infiltrated its Glasgow facility in 2022, the activists allegedly caused more than £1 million of damage. Five were jailed after members of the group threw a smoke bomb into an area where staff were being evacuated. Protesters in red suits and balaclavas also caused hundreds of thousands of pounds of damage to an electronics plant in Wales that year, which they believed was making circuit boards for Israeli drones. The group's activities ramped up after the October 7, 2023 attacks. As Israeli forces announced a 'full siege' on Gaza, Palestine Action published a list of over 50 targets 'complicit in Elbit's murderous arms trade'. A few days later they sprayed the headquarters of the BBC — which wasn't on the list — with red paint to 'symbolise complicity in genocide'. Protestors also blockaded Lockheed Martin in Bedford, smeared red paint over the Foreign Office and targeted the headquarters of aerospace firm Leonardo, at which two men were arrested for what the Met called racially aggravated criminal damage. Their actions began to go beyond scaling roof tops and breaking factory windows. Members of the campaign group allegedly used a modified prison van to ram the entrance of Elbit's Bristol HQ last summer. Once inside they dismantled weapons, allegedly caused £1 million in damage and assaulted two officers were with a sledgehammer, police said. Eighteen people were charged and held on remand over the break-in. Less than a month after members of Just Stop Oil threw tomato soup at Vincent van Gogh's Sunflowers painting, two Palestine Action members squirted tomato ketchup at a statue of former prime minister Arthur Balfour. The former foreign secretary has been a focus of activist anger as he was the signatory of the Balfour Declaration, a 1917 document that pledged support for the establishment of a 'national home for the Jewish people' in Palestine. In March 2024, the group used blades to slash a painting of Lord Balfour hanging in the University of Cambridge. Seven months later — to mark the declaration's anniversary — they reportedly stole two busts of Israel's first president from the University of Manchester's chemistry building. As Palestine Action grew in notoriety and numbers, the British state also became a target. Early in 2024, six members were arrested for allegedly plotting to prevent the London Stock Exchange from opening. Activists have inevitably attracted the attention of authorities and received jail time. Among the first to be hauled before the courts were five members in November 2022, who had covered Elbit's Kingsway offices in their, now signature, red paint. They were, however, acquitted by a jury of 'conspiracy to commit criminal damage' and the offices later closed. Palestine Action declared a victory for this and for the closure of an Elbit factory in Oldham, where their sustained protests had resulted in 36 arrests. In August 2024, five members of the group were handed custodial sentences for protest action. It took two years for the courts to hand out suspended prison sentences and order the protesters to pay more than £5,000 in compensation after seven activists broke into the Bristol headquarters of Elbit to destroy equipment. Zoë Rogers turned 21 in prison. She had been charged with criminal damage, violent disorder and aggravated burglary in relation to the Bristol incident after telling her mother, Clare, that the pro-Palestine marches 'weren't working'. She was denied bail and is on remand with a trial set for November 2025. Fatema Zainab was arrested and charged as part of the same operation. As the court system caught up in December 2023, two members of a group known as the Elbit Eight, Genevieve Scherer and Jocelyn Cooney, were acquitted on charges relatingfrom July 2020 to January 2021. Their defence had argued that they were justified in 'working to disrupt manufacture of Israel's weaponry'. Richard Barnard was convicted of one count of criminal damage at the now-closed Elbit factory in Oldham.
The Sun
05-06-2025
- General
- The Sun
Homeowner with mountain of festering rubbish piling up in her garden is threatened with ‘direct action'
A COUNCIL has threatened to take 'direct action' to clear up a rat-infested front garden piled high with junk. Sharon Cochrane's property in Hunstanton, Norfolk, is nearly buried with broken furniture, bags of rubbish, and household appliances. 4 4 Now, West Norfolk councillors have agreed "direct action" can be taken if necessary over Ms Cochrane's untidy plot at her £250,000 property. However, the authority has said no deadline has been set and it is trying instead to work with her because she has begun to clear the rubbish. A spokesman for the council said: "The council is working with the owner to manage her property. "Officers recognise that she has made an effort to clear the exterior and they will continue to support her to do this. "However, they also have the council's authority to take direct action, which means that if it becomes necessary a clear-up can be undertaken, for which she will be liable." Ms Cochrane, 66, enraged neighbours on the resort's Chatsworth Road after junk piled high in her front garden. A supermarket trolley full of groceries had also been left, while a car with a damaged wing and flat front tyre is parked on the street outside with a sideboard next to it. But Ms Cochrane previously insisted it was no-one else's business. She said: "The world is going to hell in a handbasket and people care so much about my furniture on my own drive. "I don't understand why people are so concerned." Locals said the pile was attracting vermin and was lowering the tone of the whole street. One neighbour said: "I'd like to throw a molotov cocktail on it. "People have tried to get lots of different agencies involved but nothing seems to happen. "We only occasionally see her walk past to Tesco with a shopping trolley. "This is a quiet, peaceful road and it's a shame." Tammy Edmunds, spokesperson of Chatsworth Road, said: "How can the law of the land let someone live in such squalor and filth? "I appreciate there are laws and regulations but some people seem to live above them. "The street has been suffering with this on and off for ten years and in the last five weeks its gotten worse. "It's a fire hazard and risk of health and safety. "We've heard of rats from there spreading across to other properties which has meant pest control have had to come out." West Norfolk Council served an enforcement notice under the Town and Country Planning Act ordering Ms Cochrane to clear up the mess. If it takes "direct action", she would be liable for the cost of removing it and could have a charge put on her property to recover the money if she is unable to pay. The Sun has contacted West Norfolk council for additional comment and updates. 4 4
