Dozens of Palestine Action supporters were arrested outside a London court on Friday as a judge moved toward a significant ruling in the case.
Mr Justice Johnson is sentencing four activists over a raid on an Israeli defence factory in the UK, during which a police officer suffered a fractured back.
While passing sentence on the group for criminal damage, the judge said he was treating the offence as having a “terrorist connection”.
At Woolwich Crown Court, he said the destruction caused was “not trivial or minor” and concluded the purpose of the action was either to halt Elbit’s operations or to pressure the Government into shutting the company down.
About 500 people gathered outside the court for the all-day hearing, and the Metropolitan Police said 72 were arrested on suspicion of supporting a proscribed organisation.
Police vans were brought to the scene outside the south-east London court as officers began removing demonstrators, with the first arrest reported at around 1.20pm.
Crowds applauded while others berated the officers as each detainee was taken into custody.
Some of the chants included ‘you’re complicit in genocide’ and ‘Met Police, shame, shame, all the crimes in your name’.
In a statement, the Metropolitan Police said: ‘A number of arrests have been made during a protest in south-east London.
Hundreds of Palestine Action protestors gathered outside Woolwich Crown Court today
A protestor is detained outside the court
Around 500 people are thought to have attended the day-long sentencing hearing in south east London
Some supporters appeared to berate police officers called to the scene
They gathered outside court in support of the four activists being sentenced for criminal damage to the Elbit Systems factory in Bristol
‘Seventy-two people have been arrested for supporting a proscribed terrorist organisation – Palestine Action – at a demonstration outside Woolwich Crown Court.
‘All are currently in police custody.’
The sentencing hearing relates to Charlotte Head, Samuel Corner, Leona Kamio and Fatema Rajwani, who were convicted of criminal damage at the Elbit Systems factory in Bristol following the break-in two years ago.
The group said they wanted to dismantle drones and weaponry they believed would be used to kill people, and sought to justify their actions as being necessary to protect Palestinians.
But they were found guilty of criminal damage following a trial at Woolwich Crown Court.
The attack was one of the events that led the Government to ban the group as a terrorist organisation.
The High Court said that decision was unlawful, but has kept the ban in place while the Government appeals.
Mr Justice Johnson decide to pass tougher sentences on the activists as a consequence of a ruling during pre-trial hearings that the Elbit raid had a ‘terrorist connection’.
Samuel Corner (pictured) was found guilty of causing grievous bodily harm after he fractured a police officer’s spine during the course of the raid
Charlotte Head (pictured), 30, was driving a prison van that was used as a ‘battering ram’ to break into the Elbit facility, Woolwich Crown Court heard
Fatema Rajwani (pictured), 21, was among six defendants standing trial – she was found guilty of criminal damage
Leona Kamio (pictured), 30, was found guilty of criminal damage by jurors
Head was behind the wheel of a van that crashed through the gates of the Elbit Systems factory in Bristol on August 6 2024.
The four activists, dressed in red jumpsuits, began destroying property before ending up in a fight with security guards and police that left one officer, Sgt Kate Evans, with a broken back.
Prosecutor Deanna Heer KC said the attack was ‘meticulously organised’ to cause maximum damage and get information about the company. The raid caused an estimated £1.2 million in damage.
Corner, who studied at Oxford, was also convicted of inflicting grievous bodily harm for striking police Sgt Evans twice in the back with a 7lb sledgehammer.
Two others, Zoe Rogers and Jordan Devlin, were acquitted of criminal damage.
The convictions followed a previous trial in which jurors acquitted the six of aggravated burglary but could not reach verdicts on criminal damage charges.
Prosecutor Ms Heer KC told the sentencing hearing Palestine Action has ideological aims to ‘influence government decisions and policies’ in the UK and Israel.
She said the group had vowed to ‘shut Elbit down’ through direct action. She added that the defendants all hold the view that Elbit was aiding a genocide in Gaza.
She said in written submissions: ‘The offence was designed to influence the UK government to end its relationship with Elbit Systems and/or to alter its position regarding the export of weapons to Israel and/or its relationship with the Israeli government, as well as seeking to influence Israel by seeking to disrupt its military operations.’
She pushed for the judge to sentence the defendants for a crime with a ‘terrorist connection’.
The judge, who has faced pressure ahead of the court hearing to reverse his ‘terrorist connection’ decision, pointed out that it was lawyers for the Palestine Action activists who argued that this matter should be kept secret during the trial.
Sergeant Kate Evans told jurors at an earlier hearing how she believed her spine could have been ‘shattered’ and feared she may have been ‘paralysed’ after being hit by Samuel Corner
He said members of the media had asked during pre-trial hearings to be able to report the decision, but they faced opposition from the defendants themselves, with their lawyers asking for a reporting restriction to stay in place to avoid prejudicing the trial.
This meant the judge’s ruling would not be made public and would also be kept from jurors selected to decide on the case.
He said during the hearing that a finding of a ‘terrorist connection’ does not mean the defendants are ‘terrorists’.
The police officer struck with the sledgehammer during the attack said she still suffers from panic attacks and ongoing pain.
She has been forced to accept a demotion from Sergeant to the rank of Pc, and has received abuse on email over what happened.
Ms Evans told the court she felt ‘dehumanised’ by the first trial’s outcome.
She said: ‘I found this extremely difficult to process, particularly as the attack had been captured on CCTV and clearly showed I posed no threat.
‘I struggled to understand how a verdict could not be reached given the evidence that had been presented in court.
‘This left me feeling dehumanised, as though the impact on me did not matter because I am a police officer.’
The hearing continues.
