[Imc-uk-features] Stop press item - edo blockaded now

[thewallmustfall at riseup.net]

Smash EDO - Press Release
EDO MBM Blockaded
8th July 2006

Contact Andrew Beckett or Sarah Johnson For more Details
Email - smashedopress at yahoo.co.uk, tel 07875708873


Protesters Blockade Brighton Warmongers, EDO MBM, to Prevent Production of
Weaponry
for War Crimes

In the early hours of Monday morning protesters erected two roadblocks
outside each
gate of EDO MBM Technology Ltd preventing vehicle access to the factory.
Activists
locked themselves to barrels filled with cement in front of the gates.

EDO MBM makes electrical weapons components for the Israeli military

Sarah Johnson, press spokeswoman for Smash EDO, said ‘In the last weeks
Israel has
engaged in an illegal assault on the civilian population of Gaza and has
now invaded
Lebanon killing hundreds of Lebanese civilians. These are war crimes under
international and English Law. Israel could not carry out these acts
without the
support of foreign corporations. EDO MBM is involved in the manufacture,
supply and
development of lethal weapons for use by the Israeli military. They are
ancillary to
Israel’s war crimes and Paul Hills, the Managing Director of EDO MBM,
should be
arrested and prosecuted under the International Criminal Court Act 2001’.

Protesters hope to disrupt production of weapons which could be used in
further war
crimes.

EDO MBM manufactures components to be incorporated into the Hellfire
missile, which
the Israeli army recently used to attack the civilian population of Gaza.
They have
organised conferences on the development of UCAVs, unmanned aircraft which
are
widely used in aerial attacks on Gaza. EDO Corporation, of which EDO MBM
Brighton is
a wholly owned trading unit, has a direct contract with the Israeli Navy who
murdered 10 civilians on a beach near Beit Lahiya, Gaza, earlier this month.

Andrew Beckett, press spokesman for the campaign, said ‘The current Israeli
onslaught on Gaza and Lebanon is being conducted with the help of weaponry
made in
Brighton. Today’s blockade is to show that we will not tolerate EDO MBM’s
continued
presence in Brighton and Hove, a UN Peace Messenger City.


Notes For Journalists

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 guided bomb
system,
widely used in the "Shock and Awe" campaign in Iraq.

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.