The Israeli company "Elbit Systems" for the manufacture of weapons was forced to leave its headquarters in London on June 20, after a series of intense protests organized by the British "Palestine Action" movement targeting the company's headquarters in the United Kingdom, accusing it of violating the rights of the Palestinian people.

This is the second victory for the movement this year, as Elbit Systems was forced last January to sell its "Elbit Ferrante" factory in the British city of Oldham, following successive campaigns targeting the factory for more than a year.

Richard Bernard, co-founder of Action for Palestine, said in an interview with the Sanad agency for monitoring and verification of news in Al-Jazeera network, that the movement's recent success came as a result of an intense campaign of protests over a period of 6 weeks.

"We did our activities at least once or twice a week... and our activities caused great embarrassment to Elbit Systems. Gradually we reached a pressure point where they had to leave their headquarters," he said.

Bernard noted that members of the movement used different forms of protest, where they tied their hands in pipes, and painted the entire building red as a symbol of Palestinian blood "which this company sheds only for the sake of making a profit," as he put it.

BREAKING: Palestine Action has forced Elbit to abandon its London HQ at 77 Kingsway — after multiple actions against them & their landlord JLL, we have #ShutElbitDown PERMANENTLY in London!

https://t.co/JYmR5ZfoOu

— Palestine Action (@Pal_action) June 20, 2022

Arrests and accusations

On the sanctions that the movement faced, Bernard said that "what the British police and government are doing against us is nothing compared to what the Palestinians are exposed to using the weapons of war and killing that are manufactured throughout the country, and the agreements that are signed in its headquarters."

He stated that the British police arrested 57 members of the movement for their protests in front of the company's headquarters in London, and the majority of those arrests were on charges of "serious trespass to property" or "criminal damage", and some detainees were accused of extortion for their demands to vacate the company's headquarters.

Bernard explained that they decided to resort to what he described as "direct action" against the Elbit Systems factories as a last resort.

"We have had enough of begging governments and repressive authorities to change their methods. We know that the British government and state have been involved in colonizing the Palestinian people for more than 100 years, since the Balfour Declaration signed by the British Foreign Secretary," he said.

He continued, "Any begging of the government or politicians was not something we wanted to do. Our goal was to take direct action, to go to the source, and to risk ourselves, our bodies and our freedoms to do these activities."

Paint can be used to expose Israel's business of bloodshed and destroy their intercom system🧯💥 #ShutElbitDown pic.twitter.com/oh2plZcImW

— Palestine Action (@Pal_action) July 4, 2022

two years of protest

The Action Movement for Palestine launched its first protest activity on the day of its launch in July 2020, and on that day the team targeted the Elbit Systems headquarters, which was closed last month in London.

According to Bernard, the activities targeting the headquarters continued for two weeks, before the police were able to stop them.

The British activist said that they pledged themselves at the time to return stronger, and this is what actually happened, as their protests against the headquarters of the Israeli company renewed after only one week, accompanied by larger numbers of British youth who joined the movement in solidarity with the Palestinian people.

The last two years have been marked by a lot of protests against the factories and headquarters owned by Elbit Systems, or those that contribute to the manufacture of important materials in the arms industry for the benefit of the Israeli company throughout Britain.