With two visits to UAV Engines Staffordshire plant already this week, Palestine Action went for the hat trick today – which this time targeted the factory roof.
Palestine Action does the triple against UAV Engines
From 4.45am on Thursday 28 November, two activists scaled the high roof of the building next door, giving them a vantage point to target Elbit’s Israeli drone maker:
BREAKING: Palestine Action are on a roof above Elbit’s Israeli drone maker in Shenstone, Staffordshire.
From here, actionists are able to dismantle the factory and halt the production of weaponry. pic.twitter.com/CiivraNDTi
— Palestine Action (@Pal_action) November 28, 2024
The activists managed to throw bricks to break through the roof of UAV Engines, spray red paint inside the building and damage contents within the Israeli weapons factory:
Palestine Action throw bricks to break the roof of Elbit’s Israeli drone maker in Staffordshire pic.twitter.com/ngNmWhZFz7
— Palestine Action (@Pal_action) November 28, 2024
On Monday 25 November, Palestine Action started the week by shutting down the UAV Engines plant, locking-on inside vehicles, to block the factory gates. On Wednesday 27 November, they were back again, to once more blockade the gates to the Shenstone plant, and close production down.
Now, Palestine Action returned, and this time its actionists scaled the roof of one of the factory’s two buildings. The action coincides with blockades at the Department of Business & Trade and the Foreign Office by allied groups, including the Palestinian Youth Movement.
In addition to these actions, on Tuesday 26 November, the UAV Engines factory was the scene of a well-attended protest by Palestine solidarity activists from the local community.
Complicit with Elbit
UAV Engines is operated by Elbit Systems, Israel’s biggest weapons manufacturer, and produces engines for Elbit’s killer drones. In addition to making engines for Elbit’s Hermes 450 drone, which has been deployed as a mass-murder device throughout the Gaza genocide, the UEL AR731 Wankel-type rotary engine, produced at the Staffordshire factory, is being used in Israeli Harop Kamikaze drones, which are currently being upgraded to kill autonomously.
Elbit have dishonestly claimed that they do not export to Israel, but this is disproven by export license data for military end use.
Every day UAV Engines factory loses production, Palestinian lives are saved, and Palestine Action have been targeting the plant since the start of our four-year long direct action campaign. Blockades, occupations, vehicular lock-ons, and now another assault on the factory roof, have shut the plant down repeatedly.
UAV Engines most recent accounts show that the company is now losing money – nearly half a million by the end of 2023.
This week’s actions come in the face of mounting state repression, designed to stifle protest, by terrorising activists, and locking them behind bars.
So-called anti-terror laws have been used to smash into people’s homes, detain family members, and hold activists for days at a time, without charge. Yet, none of these people have subsequently been charged with any ‘terrorist’ offence. Palestine Action now have 22 political prisoners in Britain.
Do not intimidate Palestine Action
A spokesperson for Palestine Action said:
Our level of activity this week, should be seen as a clear rejection of the attempts to intimidate us, and show that we will not be cowed. It is the State’s thugs who are the real terrorists, along with those involved in producing the weapons used by Israel to bomb hospitals, schools, mosques, and now even tents. The British government itself, is a participant in the Genocide, and one day it will be them, and their Israeli pay-masters, who will be facing trial, and imprisonment, for their crimes against humanity.
Featured image via screengrab
