Activists blockade entrance to Leonardo UK's Millbrook (Southampton) factory

 Activists blockade entrance to Leonardo UK’s Millbrook (Southampton) factory

 Southampton, United Kingdom – On 20 February 2024, as Israel’s deadly violations of the ceasefire in Gaza continue to intensify, a collective of tenacious community activists and anti-war organisers blockaded the entrance to Leonardo UK’s Southampton site causing early morning employees to form long queue of cars on either sides of the factory.

The group carried a large swath of red fabric, a creative and visual aspect of demonstrations created by Bournemouth’s Palestine Solidarity Movement, to symbolise the red line that Leonardo UK and all other British weapons corporations which export to Israel have crossed by continuing to profit from Israel’s murderous ongoing onslaught on Gaza.

The Southampton Leonardo UK blockade coincided with a morning blockade in the North of England organised by Blackburn4Palestine, which disrupted production at a BAE Systems factory, another arms company in the UK profiting from Israel’s settler colonial violence. The Red Line will be returning to Southampton on Saturday, 22 February for a protest in the city centre organised by the Southampton branch of the UK’s Palestine Solidarity Campaign. 

The two factory blockades this morning show the strength of feeling of community members across the country who want arms companies complicit in war crimes out of their cities and towns, and are calling for a ban on all UK export licences to Israel, backed by the majority of UK citizens. From Lancashire to Hampshire, people are coming together and building power against the British military industrial complex which puts corporate profit over the lives of Palestinians.

F35 components  are exempt from last year’s farcical partial ban on UK arms exports to Israel, so Leonardo UK’s activities are unaffected and activists will continue to oppose the UK government and UK arms companies’ role in propping up Israel’s military occupation in violation of international humanitarian law.  

Regular vigils against the Leonardo UK Southampton site to draw attention to the factory’s complicity in the ongoing attacks against Palestinians take place on alternative Wednesdays from 4 to 5.30 pm outside the Millbrook site, and from 5 to 6.30 pm on the green outside Southampton Civic Centre. 

Background information

Leonardo UK Southampton

The Southampton site, which  specialises in infrared detectors and thermal imaging sensors used for missile guidance and target identification, collaborates closely with the Edinburgh factory which is a known production site for the F35 fighter jets used by Israel in its genocidal onslaught against the people of Gaza. 

Shut Down Leonardo UK targets Leonardo UK bosses, shareholders and investors who have raked in a staggering £1.9 billion in profit at the expense of Palestinian  civilians, particularly women and children, as well as aid workers, medics and  journalists. Protests will continue until all UK arms exports to Israel are stopped.