About 1000 people marched in Cardiff on Sunday 6th September to protest at the Welsh FA hosting Israel in the European Championship qualifier. A great celebratory atmosphere, helped by the turn out and weather, and an i ternational presence.
About 1000 people marched in Cardiff on Sunday 6th September to protest at the Welsh FA hosting Israel in the European Championship qualifier. A great celebratory atmosphere, helped by the turn out and weather, and an i ternational presence.
Last Wednesday about 100 people greeted the 120 riders of the big ride at the Town Hall.
A long wait – their seemed to be a negative time warp as the riders made their way from Meadowhall – and then suddenly they showered in.
The final leg from Barnsley to Sheffield is captured here on You Tube
Pictures from Edinburgh to Sheffield can be found here.
We are today launching an appeal to help with the costs being incurred following the July 6th protest which occurred at the Elbit drone engine factory, Shenstone, at which 19 people were arrested, including two who were part of the Sheffield group at the protest.
Find out more here
The big ride set off on its journey to London today. One of Sheffield’s activists is amongst them as are eight other riders from Sheffield. We will be greeting the riders as they come in to Sheffield. Full details here.
Meanwhile the big riders have issued this press release.
This is the borders of Gaza superimposed on a map of South Yorkshire. Imagine that you are confined to this tiny area that even David Cameron has called a Prison Camp. On top of that Palestinians suffer economic and military attacks by Israel.
Two days ago I cycled to Edale and back. This sort of trip is impossible for Gazans.
The Big ride from Edinburgh to London is to raise money for a children’s charity in Gaza and raise solidarity as well. For me it shows how free we are in comparison.
That is one of the reasons that I have signed up for the Edinburgh to Sheffield part of the ride.
Five cars carried 25 people from Sheffield to protest at the Elbit factory in Shenstone near Lichfield. The factory is an Israeli firm that makes engines for drones. Drones killed over a thousand Palestinians in Gaza last year.
We went down to close the factory.
Dear Mr. Blomfield,
We have just been listening to the BBC news on the radio and heard many speakers voice a welcome for the agreement with Iran with regard to the development of nuclear weapons. The one dissenting voice belonged to Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s Prime Minister; the BBC somehow omitted to mention that Israel already has a nuclear arsenal and that it has waged war on Gaza on three occasions in six years, killing approximately 3,500 Palestinians, at least a quarter of whom were children. These casualties were caused by the use of what are called “conventional” weapons and this brings me to the main reason why we are writing to you at this time.
The independent Israeli arms company Elbit Systems has several factories in the UK mostly concerned with producing components of “drones” for use by the Israeli Armed Forces. These drones carried out more than half the sorties on Gaza in the 2014 attack, directly involving parts of the British workforce in the deaths inflicted there.
As you may be aware, on 6th July 2015, people concerned about the role of this company attempted to demonstrate outside several Elbit installations. The ones from Sheffield generally went to the Shenstone factory in Staffordshire. As advance leaflets pointed out, trying to encourage support for the demonstration, the plan was “to convert a site of destruction into a fun, creative and child-friendly environment.” The police assembled there had other ideas. Firstly, they employed an eleventh hour injunction to try to prevent any assembly of protesters at all. Then, using aggressive tactics not seen at earlier demonstrations at this factory, they proceeded to manhandle and bundle people out of the way with precious little concern for their safety, arresting 19 people in the process. On an international scale – especially with regard to how matters are handled in Israel – these police tactics were mild: no one shot dead, no use of water-canon etc. But in the context of the traditions
in this country, the police tactics had more in common with Orgreave than with a recognition that legal, peaceful protest is long practised here and held to be an important right.
So, in the light of these matters, we would ask you to give your opinion on the following:
demonstration outside an arms factory, thereby preventing legitimate protest on an important issue?
In conclusion, we note that there is to be an attempt to revivify a “Labour Friends of Palestine” in Sheffield. Is the arms embargo against Israel an issue this group will support?
Yours sincerely,
One year on from the brutal attacks by Israel, Gaza is still in ruins.
Sheffield PSC gathered to commemorate and stand in solidarity with Palestinians in front of the town hall steps.
Last Summer, Israel killed over two thousand Palestinians in Gaza.