Through lock ons and paint-throwing, activists from Palestine Action have shut down Elbit Systems’ factory in Shenstone.
The site (UAV Engines LTD.) is used for the construction of drone engines – two of Elbit’s most notorious drones are the Hermes 450/900, used by the Israeli occupation to pummel Gaza in May 2021. Elbit Systems supply the Israeli occupation with 85% of its drone fleet, whilst exporting its drones (amongst other military hardware) to oppressive states across the world.
“A hat trick for our movement as we close Elbit Shenstone for the third time in two weeks, our activists and supporters working to shut down the next of Elbit’s eight remaining sites.”
Elbit Systems is met with direct action once more, as Palestine Action activists have taken to Elbit Systems’ (Israel’s largest arms factory) factory in Shenstone and closed the site for the third time in two weeks. The Elbit subsidiary operates as UAV Engines LTD. and is responsible for manufacturing Elbit’s military drone engines. Activists have locked on across the factory gates and hurled symbolic blood-red paint onto the premises, leaving the site inoperable.
On June 22nd, activists took to the roof of UAV Engines LTD., proclaiming ‘2 down, 8 to go’ – a warning to Israel’s arms manufacturers. They caused significant site damage, and successfully shut down the site as did residents of the community on June 28, when a protest forced site closure for the day. As the recent closure of Elbit’s London headquarters will prove, it is direct action that forces weapons companies out, it’s on this basis that activists have today taken action, seeking to end the bloodshed that is British backed.
The site has been shut down today in order to prevent the manufacture of drone parts used for either military purposes or popular repression. Elbit manufacture drones and drone products for a range of clients, not only for Israel’s war-crime-linked Hermes drones, but also the Watchkeeper drone sold to the British government for use by military, border force, and other agencies, for military interventions abroad and for police and border force surveillance, manufactured in large part by UAV Engines LTD in Shenstone.
A Palestine Action spokesperson said: “We have once again taken aim at Elbit’s Shenstone factory, where UAV Engines Ltd manufacture engines for Israeli drones, which have been previously “battle-tested” on the captive population of Gaza. Our activists are determined to dismantle the base of their crimes and #ShutElbitDown across the firm’s eight remaining sites in Britain using the ever effective means of direct action.”