The government is now feeling the heat from Palestine Action, as it joined forces with emerging direct action group Youth Demand. They targeted the Ministry of Defence (MoD) in London – just as the Tories refused to stop selling arms to genocidal Israel, despite the overwhelming evidence it makes the UK complicit in war crimes.
Palestine Action: taking the fight to the government
Palestine Action and Youth Demand teamed up to paint the MoD headquarters in London, while other supporters marched through the capital, on Wednesday 10 April:
They were demanding an end to the MoD contracts with Israel’s largest weapons firm, Elbit Systems and an end to all future licensing and consents for the exploration, development and production of fossil fuels in the UK, including revoking oil and gas licences issued since 2021.
Activists from each group sprayed red paint over the government building on Victoria Embankment Gardens at 2pm. Shortly afterwards, they were joined by supporters who had been marching through central London, holding a banner that read ‘YOUTH DEMAND AN END TO GENOCIDE’:
All five action takers were arrested at the scene by 3.15pm – with cops dragging one away:
Audrey Xiarui Corno is a dancer from Peckham and supporter of Palestine Action who took action today. They said:
The United Kingdom has been complicit in this genocide from the beginning. We still don’t have the exact figures of how much has been produced and traded – but what we do know is private arms companies like Elbit Systems have made a KILLING since October.”
Elbit Systems is one of Israel’s biggest arms manufacturers, which holds active contracts with the Ministry of Defence. I am ashamed of this country. What we have is not a Ministry of Defence but a Ministry of Murder.
The MoD is training the Israeli military in Britain. The UK government has admitted that nine Israeli military aircraft have landed in Britain since 7 October. The MoD has refused to say what those planes are carrying or what they are doing.
A “cruel and apathetic government”
Also taking action is Irfan Mamun, a student from Oxford who said:
I’m taking action to demand two things from the UK government, to call for a halt to buying and selling weapons with Israel and to stop all new oil and gas licences in the UK. I feel deeply conflicted with what’s happening in Gaza and with what’s happening with the climate crisis.
We know tens of thousands of Palestinians are being killed and if we continue on our current trajectory hundreds of millions will be killed by the climate crisis whilst billions will be displaced.
People around the UK are infuriated by this, we see all this suffering happening and yet we have a cruel and apathetic government which chooses to do nothing. Politics is broken and I don’t feel comfortable taking this action, but it feels so urgent that it must be done.
Today’s action comes as it was revealed that in the months since October 7, Israel’s killed over 33,000 Palestinians, including 13,800 children and injured over 75,900 Gazans. It also comes after Youth Demand doorstepped Labour leader Keir Starmer.
As the Canary previously reported, they hung a banner outside the house reading: “Starmer stop the killing”, surrounded by red handprints. They also laid rows of children’s shoes in front of the door to signify children killed in Gaza. Cops charged two of the protesters.
Featured image and additional images via Palestine Action
