UK: Six Palestine Action activists stand trial over Elbit Systems attack
Six Palestine Action defendants stood trial in the UK on Tuesday on alleged offences in connection with an action targeting a factory operated Israeli arms manufacturer Elbit Systems, in August 2024.
The defendants - Charlotte Head, 29, Samuel Corner, 23, Leona Kamio, 30, Fatema Rajwani, 21, Zoe Rogers, 22, and Jordan Devlin, 31 - jointly face charges of aggravated burglary, criminal damage and violent disorder.
Corner is additionally charged with causing grievous bodily harm with intent.
London's Woolwich Crown Court heard that the six defendants broke into premises owned by the arms firm in Filton, near Bristol, wearing red jumpsuits and carrying sledgehammers in the early hours of 6 August.
Prosecutor Deanna Heer told jurors that the defendants crashed through fencing ringing the site and into the factory itself with a prison van allegedly driven by Charlotte Head.
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Video footage presented to the jury was said to show activists spraying red paint and using sledgehammers to damage machinery inside the facility.
Mr Justice Johnson told jurors that their views on Israel’s genocide in Gaza were irrelevant to the case and that it is “ vitally important that you judge the case on the evidence”.
He added that the allegations predate the government’s ban of Palestine Action, and that they must not hold the group’s proscription “against the defendants in any way”.
The trial is expected to last 10 weeks.
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