SMASH EDO

PRESS RELEASE

 http://www.smashdo.org.uk
WEDNESDAY 17th AUGUST 2005. 00:01 (BRIGHTON)
EMBARGO: Immediate Release
CONTACT: Andrew OR Sarah 07875 708873
 smashedopress@yahoo.co.uk




While a police helicopter hovered above at least ten
officers including dogs commanded by a police
seargent, informed the protesters they had five
minutes to leave because they were in breach of a
council bylaw prohibiting the camp. A council park
ranger who supported their statement accompanied the
police. The police were also accompanied by the
director of Guardian Guards Ltd who is responsible
for EDO’s security.

Realising that five minutes would not be enough to
move the whole camp the police decided to give the
protesters till 6PM to leave with all their
belongings. Anything left behind after that time would
be confiscated by the police, the protesters were
told.

The protesters contacted local councilors who, after
checking between themselves and council park managers,
discovered that no council authority had been given
to evict the camp.

One camper said. ‘When we told them this the police
were dismissive. They refused to speak to any
councilors on the phone. The park ranger was told to
turn off his mobile phone by director of Guardian
Guards, which he then did even though he doesn’t work
for the company, but for the council who were very
likely trying to call him at that moment. I think this
was so he would not get any calls from the council
asking him what was going on. This whole event
coincided with our planned demonstration outside the
EDO factory so we were prevented from going to the
demonstration while we had to deal with it. ’

More phone calls between councilors and police led to
the arrival of a higher ranking officer and the mood
changed from outright police aggression to a statement
by the police that they had only come to ‘suggest it
might be a good idea to leave’.

Eventually the commanding officer spoke to a
councilor on the protesters phone and agreed not to
evict the camp.

Smash EDO Press spokesperson Andrew Beckett said,’

After the council’s shameful climb-down amendment the
UN Peace Message motion in last months full council
meeting, (in which they censored any criticism of
Edo’s presence in the city without even debating the
motion) it is encouraging that they have stepped in
and stopped this outright illegal eviction from taking
place. But disturbing questions remain unanswered. Who
ordered this eviction? Why did Sussex Police believe
they had the authority to attempt it? Why was EDO
MBM’s private security guard included in the operation
when he has no responsibility for council land? Why
did the park ranger follow the orders of EDO’s
security guard and turn off his phone?’

Despite the disruption campers plan to continue their
week of action. Wednesday 17th August is devoted to
the victims of the Israeli occupation of Palestine.

At 12 Noon outside the factory the Brighton Palestine
Quilt will be unveiled outside EDO MBM. The quilt has
taken months to make and has included the work of a
large number of individuals from several voluntary
groups within the city. Its aim is to draw attention
to the continuing suffering of the Palestinian people
living under the illegal brutal and racist Israeli
occupation.

Between 4-6pm a demonstration will hear the names of
civilian victims of the occupation (mostly children)
killed since the Al Aqua antiradar began.

EDO MBM make the VER-2 and VER-4 bomb release unit
used by Israeli F16s to bomb civilian areas of
Palestine in documented breaches of the 4th Geneva
Convention. The protesters say Edo’s employees are
liable to prosecution as abiders and abettors of war
crimes under the International Criminal Court Act.
Brighton Police have refused to investigate the
allegations.



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SMASH EDO WEEK OF ACTION
PROGRAMME OF EVENTS



DATE: Wed 17th August
EVENT: Palestine Day of Action
TIME: 12 NOON: Unveiling of the Quilt For Palestine
VENUE: EDO MBM, Home Farm Road, Brighton

TIME: 4 - 6 pm: A demonstration to remember
the Palestinian victims of EDO MBM’s products
VENUE: EDO MBM, Home Farm Road, Brighton

DATE: Thu 18th August
TIME: · 4 - 6pm: Noise Demo
VENUE: EDO MBM, Home Farm Road, Brighton

TIME: 7pm: Peace Camp Party
VENUE: The Prince Albert, Trafalgar Street, Brighton

DATE: Fri 19th August
EVENT: Noise Demo
TIME: 11 - 1 pm: Noise Demo
VENUE: EDO MBM, Home Farm Road, Brighton

==========================================
Notes for Journalists

Brighton & Hove is a UN Peace Messenger City.

The injunction referred to be served under the 1997
Protection from Harassment Act (originally designed to
protect women from stalkers) and is the first of its
kind directed at activists outside of the animal
rights movement. Crucially it is a civil injunction
but carries criminal penalties. It affects anyone
deemed to be a protestor.

Initially EDO/MBM requested a large “exclusion zone”
comprising the whole of Home Farm Industrial Estate.
They and Sussex police also wanted to limit
demonstrations to two and a half hours, with less than
ten people who had to be silent. Judge Gross refused
to impose these conditions at the initial hearing of
an interim injunction, which was put in place in the
period before the full trial to be heard at the High
court in London from November 21st.

In his summing up he said, “The right to freedom of
_expression is jealously guarded in English law” and
consequently refused to impose the requested limits on
size, timing or noise made at demonstrations.

He also said that he doubted that protesters were
'stalking' employees of EDO MBM.

EDO MBM Technologies Ltd are the sole UK subsidiary of
huge U.S arms conglomerate EDO Corp, which was
recently named No. 10 in the Forbes list of 100
fastest growing companies. They supply bomb release
mechanisms to the US and UK armed forces amongst
others. They supply crucial components for Raytheon’s
Paveway IV guided bomb system, widely used in the
“Shock and Awe” campaign in Iraq.

EDO also recently
withdrew a threatened libel action against Indymedia
over being named as “warmongers”.

Lawson-Cruttenden & Co, a solicitors firm working for
EDO have been instrumental in developing the
Protection of Harassment Act 1997 from a measure
designed to safeguard individuals to a corporate
charter to make inconvenient protest illegal.

They have pioneered to use of injunctions to create
large “exclusion zones”.

They have secured numerous injunctions against
anti-vivisection and anti-GM
protestors.

Campaign against EDO MBM.

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.
It’s avowed aim is to expose EDO MBM and their
complicity in war crimes and to remove them from
Brighton.