Four Palestine Action activists were convicted Tuesday of breaking into an Israeli defense factory in the UK and smashing equipment with sledgehammers and crowbars.
Jurors at Woolwich Crown Court found Charlotte Head, Samuel Corner, Leona Kamio and Fatema Rajwani guilty of criminal damage. They are scheduled to be sentenced June 12.
Footage from the fight inside the Elbit factory: Pro-Palestinian activist attacks police with hammers
(Photo: Sky News)
The attack was one of several incidents that led the government to ban the group as a terrorist organization. London’s High Court later ruled the decision unlawful but allowed the ban to remain in place while the government appeals.
The group said it aimed to dismantle drones and other equipment it believed would be used to kill people.
Head drove a van through the gates of an Elbit Systems factory in Bristol on August 6, 2024.
The four activists, dressed in red jumpsuits, began destroying property and later clashed with security guards and police. One officer suffered a broken back.
Prosecutor Deanna Heer said the attack was “meticulously organized” to cause maximum damage and obtain information about the company. The damage was estimated at 1 million pounds ($1.36 million).
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Protesters hold signs outside an Elbit Systems facility
(Photo: Angelina Katsanis, File/AP)
Corner was also convicted of inflicting grievous bodily harm after striking police Sgt. Kate Evans twice in the back with a sledgehammer, fracturing her spine.
Two other defendants, Zoe Rogers and Jordan Devlin, were acquitted of criminal damage.
The convictions followed an earlier trial in which jurors acquitted the six of aggravated burglary but were unable to reach verdicts on the criminal damage charges.