CAAT has been sent the following statement from a group of residents in Bristol:
On 14th December, a group of around 15 concerned Bristol residents went to visit Elbit’s Horizon facility at Belvedere Close, Bolingbroke Way in Filton. This ‘research, development and manufacturing hub for high technology solutions’ was opened in July 2023 by the Israeli ambassador, Tzipi Hotovely, and local Tory MP Jack Lopresti. It is the second Elbit Systems facility in Bristol, the other being at 600 Aztec West which was visited and blockaded several times by Bristol residents in the days after Israel started bombing Gaza this October.
Bristol is host to a number of arms companies; we chose Elbit for today’s protest because it is Israel’s largest arms producer and because of its central role in arming the occupation and battle testing its weapons and technologies on Palestinians. According to Defence News , the new facility in Bristol ‘showed off’ a number of weapons to the Israeli Ambassador, including its Torch-X command-and-control technology, E-Lynx radio system and nv33 night vision goggles. All three of these are known to be in use by the Israeli armed forces. Bristol is therefore likely to be supplying military technology and equipment that are being used at this moment against Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.
We arrived at the factory around 8.30 am and stood on the road outside the gates with banners, flags and a sound system. While we were small in number, no traffic entered the gates while we were there, and staff arriving after us had to park outside and walk past the protest. Security guards remained close to the gate and didn’t approach us; police arrived after we had been there for about an hour, but after trying and failing to engage us in conversation, they stood on the pavement and waited for us to leave. We left just after 10.30 after playing some Palestinian tunes.
Today’s action was organised by local residents who are concerned about the genocide of Palestinian people and the role industries in our city play in enabling it. We are not a formal organisation and have no leaders. Taking actions like this is relatively easy and doesn’t need to result in arrest. We will keep taking actions like this until there are no arms dealers left in Bristol, and we invite you to do the same.
More info on Bristol’s links to the arms trade
Legal info on planning a protest from Green and Black Cross
