Instro Precision, a factory in Kent, England, owned by Israeli arms manufacturer Elbit Systems was shut down on February 17 by four activists occupying the roof while others blockaded the entrance.
Instro Precision is a manufacturer of military targeting systems. Its optical equipment is used in drones such as those Israel used to bombard Gaza during the summer of 2014, say the activists. Such surveillance equipment has also been installed in Israel’s apartheid wall in the West Bank.
Some 2257 Palestinians, most of them civilians, were killed in Israel’s summer onslaught in Gaza, according to the UN monitoring group OCHA. Elbit supplies 85% of the drones used by the Israeli military.
Protester Tom Anderson said: “No workers have come in … We are here because we want to stop Elbit from supplying weapons which are used to massacre people in Gaza and Afghanistan.”
Protester Rida Abu Zneid from Gaza, who saw her sister ripped apart by a missile from an Israeli drone, said: “Why should they manufacture these weapons to kill innocent people? They should stop and close those factories.”
[News in Brief. Full story at Electronic Intifada]
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