Radical Palestinian activists “stormed and occupied” an Israeli defence contractor’s factory in Northern England on Monday morning, in a protest against “Israel’s kill chain in the UK”.
The far-left activist group, Palestine Action, has taken credit for shutting down the factory of Ferranti Technologies — a subsidiary of the Israeli defence contractor Elbit Systems — in Oldham, Greater Manchester.
The group claimed that they evaded the “heavy security presence and rapid police response” in order to shut down the factory at 6:30 am on Monday morning.
Video footage posted on social media showed the activists setting off smoke flares in the colours of the Palestinian flag on top of the building.
Palestine Action said in a statement that the activists “chained the gates shut, and have covered the building in blood-red paint.”
“In occupying the site and preventing operations, activists are disrupting the flow of arms and military technology to Israel, where these would be used to commit war crimes against the Palestinian people,” the radical group said.
A spokesman for Palestine Action said: “When our government facilitates Israel’s apartheid regime, and allows corporations to commit murder, it is our duty to take action. Palestine Action continues to build a mass direct action movement and expose Elbit’s role in Israel’s crimes.
“The campaign will continue until Elbit Ferranti and all other Elbit sites in the UK are shut down for good.”
Palestine Action has taken credit for similar actions across the UK over the past month, with some lasting for days, including the six-day occupation of an Elbit-owned drone factory in Leicester in May. Five men were arrested by police after the occupation was ended.
In February, the group targetted the same factory in Oldham, in conjunction with the climate change alarmist protest group Extinction Rebellion. Police arrested eight people on suspicion of criminal damage and aggravated trespass.
The police also reported that the factory sustained at least £20,000 in damages during the incident.
In a comment made to Breitbart London on Monday, the Greater Manchester Police said of the latest incident: “Officers were called to reports of a protest at Greenacres Road, Oldham, at about 6.40 am today (21 June).
“Three men have been arrested and remain in custody for questioning.”
Since the re-emergence of hostilities in the Palestine-Israeli conflict last month, there has been increasing action taken by anti-Israel activists, including several high profile protests in London, two of which descended into violence.
Last week, the Jewish charity Community Security Trust (CST), claimed that the number of anti-Semitic attacks in London has reached levels not seen since the 1980s, with 201 anti-Semitic incidents being recorded in the British capital in the month of May, alone.
The UK’s communities secretary, Robert Jenrick, said last month that the rise in anti-Semitism in Britain was likely a result of radical Islamist organisations embedded in the country, warning that the government must be “alive” to the threat of Islamic anti-Semitism.
Follow Kurt Zindulka on Twitter here @KurtZindulka
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