Scores of protesters were arrested over support for Palestine Action outside a London court where activists were being jailed for a “terrorist” raid on a Israel-based defence firm factory.
More than 100 people were arrested for supporting a proscribed terrorist organisation, the Metropolitan Police said.
Protesters gathered outside Woolwich Crown Court on Friday, where four activists were being sentenced for destroying equipment at the raid at the Elbit Systems facility in Filton, near Bristol. The raid caused £1.2 million of damage and left a police officer with a fractured spine.
Charlotte Head, 30, Samuel Corner, 23, Leona Kamio, 30, and Fatema Rajwani, 21, were in an old prison van which crashed into the Elbit Systems site near Bristol in the early hours of August 6 2024.
The activists, all wearing red boilersuits, used sledgehammers and crowbars to destroy computers, drones and other equipment before police and security intervened.
Corner, a former student at Oxford, struck police officer Kate Evans twice on the back with a seven pound sledgehammer, leaving her with a fractured spine.
Mr Justice Johnson jailed Corner for seven years and eight months, telling him he had used “extreme and gratuitous force against a vulnerable police officer acting in the course of her duties”.
Head, who drove the prison van into the compound, was sentenced to five years in prison, Kamio was also handed a five-year jail term, and Rajwani received a prison sentence of four years and eight months.
Protesters are detained by police outside Woolwich Crown Court
PA
Each defendant will also spend an extra year on licence once their prison terms have ended.
The judge said they had “decided to take matters into your own hands” after coming to the view that the Israeli government is committing genocide in Gaza and being “disillusioned” with legal efforts to oppose it.
He said the activists had been “reckless” about who would be injured, and had been heavily involved in organising the raid with the right of veto over each part of the plan.
The judge pointed out that two of the activists had livestreamed the raid and posted the footage to social media, as part of an effort to “glorify criminality and vigilantism”.
Supporters of the defendants cheered and banged on the front of the public gallery as the sentences were passed.
Earlier on Friday, the judge ruled that the raid amounted to an “act of terrorism”, having been carried out to try to influence the UK Government and intimidate a section of the public.
Meanwhile outside the defendants’ supporters were being arrested.
Around 1.20pm a middle aged man who had been holding a sign pledging his support to Palestine Action was carried into the back of a waiting police van by officers.
Numerous detentions followed, all of people holding signs saying “Saving lives is not terrorism I support Palestine Action”.
As each person was carried away nearby protesters broke into applause and cheers, with some berating the officers.
A Metropolitan Police spokesperson said: “A number of arrests have been made during a protest in south east London.
“ All are currently in police custody.”
Around 500 protesters gathered outside the court on Friday morning.
There has also been a significant police presence, with 12 police vans having arrived to manage the demonstration outside the court.
The protesters had lined the driveway into the court carpark but police lined in front of them.
They could also be heard banging drums and chanting through megaphones with Palestine flags being waved.
As well as changing “Free Palestine”, the protesters also displayed a number of signs stating “Direct Action Saves Lives” and “Direct Action is not Terrorism”.
They also held ‘Filton 25’ banners in support of those arrested following the raid at Elbit Systems facility in Filton.
