Four Palestine Action members arrested after Bristol protest
Four people have been arrested after a protest at a defence firm's facility.Members of Palestine Action used a cherry picker style vehicle and a hammer attached to a rope to smash second floor windows and douse red paint on Elbit Systems UK's Aztec West facility near Bristol.Palestine Action allege that Elbit Systems UK are involved in the manufacture and supply of weapons to the Israeli military - a claim that the company strongly denies.Avon and Somerset Police confirmed the arrests and said it is "committed to facilitating people's right to lawful peaceful protest, but cannot and will not tolerate criminal behaviour".
The force said those arrested are aged between 19 and 36 and remain in custody."We can confirm three of the four live outside of Avon and Somerset," it added.Palestine Action claimed that the protest was intended to "damage the operational hub" of the defence firm.In a video shared by the group on X, three of its members appear to be in the bucket of the cherry picker, while they claim a fourth person had locked themselves inside the van at the base of the cherry picker.Another video shows police officers attempting to gain access to the van.The Aztec West facility is a different facility to the one targeted by Palestine Action in August when 18 people were arrested.Elbit Systems UK has been approached for a comment.
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