Smash EDO 2 September 2006
23 August 2006 - Protesters are currently occupying the roof of an arms manufacturer who supply weapons to the Israeli army used in the bombing of Gaza and Lebanon.
In the early hours of Wednesday morning (today) protesters climbed 40 feet onto the roof of EDO MBM on Home Farm Road, Brighton. Activists aim to draw attention to the production of weaponry used in war crimes.
Sarah Johnson, press spokeswoman for Smash EDO, said ‘Over a thousand civilians have died as a result of Israel’s bombing of Lebanon. Israel continues to kill civilians in the West Bank and Gaza with weaponry armed with components made in Brighton. EDO MBM are profiting from murder, we will not tolerate their presence in Brighton.’
This is the fourth large protest at EDO MBM since the beginning of the war in Lebanon. Shortly after the war started activists blockaded the factory by chaining themselves to barrels of cement, soon afterwards local artists brought impressions of the horrors of war to the factory gates and a held ‘day of rage’ was held outside the factory.
Andrew Beckett, press spokesman for the campaign said ‘EDO produces components for the Hellfire missile, it was a Hellfire that was used to destroy the ambulance leaving Qana, on 23rd July this year. The directors of EDO are complicit in murder’
Smash EDO demonstrate every Wednesday at EDO MBM, Home Farm Road.
EDO MBM Technologies Ltd are the sole subsidiary of huge U.S arms conglomerate EDO Corp. They supply crucial components for Raytheon’s Paveway guided bomb system, widely used in the “Shock and Awe” campaign in Iraq.
EDO MBM makes electrical weapons components for the Israeli military. EDO MBM manufactures components to be incorporated into the Hellfire missile, which the Israeli army has recently used to attack the civilian population of Gaza . They have organised conferences on the development of UCAVs, unmanned aircraft which are widely used in aerial attacks on Gaza . EDO Corporation, of which EDO MBM Brighton is a wholly owned trading unit, has a direct contract with the Israeli Navy who murdered 10 civilians on a beach near Beit Lahiya, Gaza, earlier this month.
People involved in the anti-EDO campaign include, but are not limited to: local residents, the Brighton Quakers, peace activists, anti-capitalists, Palestine Solidarity groups, human rights groups, trade unionists, academics and students.
The campaign started in August 2004 with a peace camp. Its avowed aim is to expose EDO MBM and their complicity in war crimes and to remove them from Brighton.
Smash EDO is a grassroots campaign in Brighton made up of antiwar activists.
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