LEICESTER (Dispatches) – Pro-Palestinian activists in the English city of Leicester have shut down a factory operated by UAV Tactical Systems, a subsidiary of the Zionist regime’s arms manufacturer Elbit Systems.
Middle East Eye (MEE) counted four activists on the roof of the factory on Wednesday wearing red overalls and waving the Palestinian flag.
Around a dozen other activists protested outside the site in an industrial park on the outskirts of the city, as police officers sealed off entrances into the facility.
The factory builds unmanned aerial vehicles that the protesters say have been used by the Zionist regime to attack the Gaza Strip.
The takeover of the building comes amid the regime’s bombing campaign in the besieged territory, which at the time of writing has killed at least 219 Palestinians, including 63 children and 36 women.
“Elbit tests its weapons on Palestinians and uses Gaza and the West Bank as live testing sites,” said Huda Ammori of Palestine Action, one of the groups behind the protests at the site.
Protesters chanted slogans criticizing the Zionist regime’s violence against Palestinians, and trucks arriving at the factory were directed away by police officers.
Anger was directed not only at the Zionists but also at the British government over what the activists say is a “genocide” of Palestinians.
“All the politicians, especially Boris Johnson, who is taking the Palestinian genocide lightly, are complicit,” said Ferhat Ulusu, one of the activists who scaled the factory in the early hours of Wednesday.
In a message delivered to MEE, he added: “Everyone who keeps silent is complicit. (Time) to shut Elbit down now. Enough is enough.”