Early in the morning on Thursday the 20th May 2004, around 20 anti-arms trade activists arrived at the premises of EDO MBM Technology in Brighton. EDO MBM manufacture bomb and missile release components for military aircraft; they are on record as being “proud” to support the ongoing occupation of Iraq.

Five activists set up a ‘cage’ consisting of 7ft high fence panels blocking the access road to the small industrial estate where the factory is situated. Banners were hung from the cage with suggestions of what EDO may stand for, one offered a potential corporate slogan: ‘Every Death an Opportunity’.

Shortly afterwards, five more activists ‘appeared’ on the roof of the factory. Banners reading ‘Arms dealers out of Brighton’ and ‘EDO MBM not welcome in our city’ were hung over the edge. It later transpired that one of the roof-occupying activists had broken his ankle before getting onto the roof, and somehow made it up anyway.

As workers arrived they found the roadblock in their path and were given leaflets explaining what must have seemed an interesting intervention in their mundane trudge to work. All but suited senior management types turned around and had the day off; the suits parked nearby and walked the last stretch to calls of ‘are you proud of profiting from death?’ from the inhabitants of their newly autonomous roof.

The roadblock also prevented access to the other two companies on the industrial estate. A baking firm managed to park vans either side of it and carry their load around by hand. They declined the offer of help from some activists and were understandably annoyed by the disruption. Perhaps this is an illustration of the injustice of ‘collateral damage’.

The police arrived and pondered the situation for several hours before eventually working out how to remove the roadblock around midday. The five who were locked to it were arrested and charged with obstruction, they face Court next week. The police attention then switched to those on the roof. Progressively more riot vans appeared, peaking at eight, before they obviously realised WE WERE ON THE ROOF and so multiple vans were a little superfluous to requirements.

As it became apparent the injured activist on the roof wasn’t getting any better, he was plucked from the roof by on-strike fire fighters [solidarity guys] using a cherry picker at around 2pm. He was arrested in the ambulance for aggravated trespass but later de-arrested at hospital, with the possibility of re-arrest later. Three of the four remaining roof-dwellers came down from the roof later in the afternoon and were arrested for aggravated trespass.

A final protester weathered torrential rain for a while longer before coming down to join the others in police custody on the same charge. The four arrested for aggravated trespass have not been charged and were released on police bail. In fairness to the police they handled the situation in a fairly non-confrontational manner (perhaps because protestors were either voluntarily caged or 30 feet in the air?) and made no attempts at forced eviction from the roof for safety reasons. The company was effectively shut down for the day and there was reasonable mainstream coverage from BBC South Today – so all round it was a successful and worthwhile action – disrupting and highlighting the presence of accessories to war crimes in our own community.

More pics (which were on film, not digital) are on the way when they get processed.