Smash EDO Trial of anti arms trade activists next week and 2 actions in Brighton

Thurs 13th jan - Noise Demo at EDO Tech, Home Farm Road (off Lewes Road just after viaduct), Brighton to celebrate the end of the trial - come and make some noise

Tues 11th Jan 1pm - 2pm - Support Picket at Brighton Magistrates Court, Edward Street

Tues 11th Jan - 6.30pm - Public Meeting against the arms trade at the Bridge Social centre, Lucraft Road, Mouslecoomb, Brighton. Speakers against the arms trade include activists from the local movement and Ewa Jasciewitz, eyewitness to human rights abuses in Iraq

PRESS RELEASE

Trial of EDO Tech 5 – 11-14 Jan 05, Brighton Magistrates’ Court.

In May 2004, 5 people climbed onto the roof of EDO/MBM Technology, an arms company in Brighton. They hung banners across the front of the building and stayed on the roof most of the day, even though one brave man had broken his ankle. There was another group blockading the entrance road at the same time.

Mainstream media reported the protest, raising the profile of the campaign against this arms factory. EDO/MBM did very little work and lost £20, 000.

Five activists were arrested for staging a rooftop occupation lasting
late into the evening. They are charged with aggravated trespass which is defined as obstructing lawful business.
The activists will use the International Criminal Court Act 2001 to argue that EDO/MBM's business is unlawful. The ICC Act makes it a crime under domestic law to be ancillary to war crimes andcrimes against humanity – the defense will argue that the war on Iraq constitutes such a crime.

EDO/MBM is an arms factory, on the Home Farm Industrial Estate, Mouslecoomb, Brighton.manufacturing bomb release mechanisms for F16, Hawk Hurricane and Tornado Fighter Jets, tank diagnostic systems and the controversial Paveway IV precision guidance system used in the invasion and occupation of Iraq. The factory supplies equipment to Lockheed Martin in the USA who equip human rights abusers like Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Israel and Turkey.
For more information, telephone 07900698550 or email  thewallmustfall@hotmail.com. For more details about the campaign see http/:smashedo.bpec.org