A mob of more than 400 trade unionists have descended a weapons factory in Kent in protest over the war between Israel and Hamas.
Activisits have blockaded manufacturer BAE Systems’ in Chatham, Rochester since around 7am this morning (Friday, November 10).
An organiser said that more than 400 trade unionists are involved in the action at the site, which they claim provides components for military aircraft being used in the bombardment of Gaza.
They said the group includes health workers, teachers, hospitality workers, academics, artists and more who are members of trade unions such as Unite, Unison, GMB, the NEU, the BMA, UCU, BECTU and BFAWU.
The blockade has been organised as part of an “international day of action” called by Palestinian trade unions to “end complicity in Israel’s war crimes”.
Participants are calling for “an end to the UK Government’s complicity in war crimes being committed in Palestine, by ending arms sales to Israel and supporting an immediate ceasefire”.
Outside the factory in Chatham, Rochester, Harriet, 32, a doctor from east London, told the PA news agency: “I work in A and E and we got here very early, I think we got here about 6.20 am or 6.30am this morning.
“Behind us is the BAE factory where some central components of the fighter jets that Israel is using to bomb Palestine are made and then they are shipped to Israel and become a part of the killer fighter planes.
“The more than 10,000 now Palestinians civilians that have been killed in the last couple of weeks are literally at the mercy of these weapons.
“So we’re trying to turn workers away who are coming to do their job which is assembling those weapons and we’re trying to stop deliveries getting in and out of the factory which so far has been successful. We’ve turned quite a few workers away.
“I think this has been a long month and it’s been a very long 75 years for Palestine. And I think people are getting rightly so angry and I think fatigued of the genocide but not of fighting it.
“I’m here because I’m a person. I’m also here because I’m a medic and we’ve seen hundreds of medical staff in Gaza killed, some still under the rubble.
“Just last night the Indonesian hospital in Gaza has been bombed again, al Ahli hospital has been bombed, al Shifa hospital, the biggest hospital in Gaza has been bombed. There’s absolutely no protection or sanctity for the medical facilities, if anything they’re been targeting which is I think a testament to just how evil the plan of wiping Gaza off the map is.”
