Palestine Action has carried out fresh direct action against UK arms suppliers while the British government presses ahead with plans to designate the group a terrorist organisation. The crackdown has sparked condemnation from UN officials and 400 prominent artists.
Pro-Palestine activists from Palestine Action again targeted Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest weapons firm, and one of its UK subcontractors, Guardtech, in coordinated actions on Tuesday.
In Bristol, activists blockaded the only entrance to Elbit’s Aztec West headquarters using a van, chains and lock-on devices. The site was doused in red paint to symbolise Palestinian bloodshed.
The Bristol facility, Elbit’s main hub in the UK, oversees operations for all of its British subsidiaries and plays a key role in military exports to Israel.
Palestine Action said the site had been shut down as part of a renewed campaign to disrupt Elbit’s supply chains, vowing to continue such actions “until victory.”
The group said on X: “The Home Secretary says you have the right to protest without being called a terrorist, but as soon as you’re effective… you’re a terrorist.”
A spokesperson added: “While the government is rushing through absurd legislation to proscribe Palestine Action, the real terrorism is being committed in Gaza by Elbit and those who enable it.”
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At the same time, activists scaled the roof of Guardtech Group’s Suffolk facility, halting work at the site.
Guardtech is accused of supplying cleanroom services essential for the production of Elbit’s weapons technology.
“This rooftop occupation has successfully halted operations,” Palestine Action said. “We call on Guardtech to drop Elbit and cease collaboration with genocide.”
Guardtech provides cleanrooms to Instro Precision, a Kent-based subsidiary of Elbit that manufactures military electro-optical sensors and targeting systems for Israeli ground vehicles and drones.
“85% of drones used in Gaza are from Elbit,” one activist said on video. “That makes Elbit complicit in the Israeli genocide.”
Tuesday marked the first time Palestine Action has targeted Guardtech directly.
The group framed the move as a strategic escalation ahead of a possible ban.
Government moves forward with proscription
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper last week laid a draft order before Parliament that would officially proscribe Palestine Action under the Terrorism Act 2000.
The proposed legislation would also ban the Russian Imperial Movement and the Maniacs Murder Cult — two far-right groups not based in the UK.
If passed, the order will make it a criminal offence to belong to, support or express solidarity with Palestine Action, punishable by up to 14 years in prison.
Cooper justified the move by claiming the group had caused property damage at military and arms facilities for political purposes, which she said meets the legal threshold for terrorism.
“Britain will always take the action needed to defend our democracy and national security,” she said in a statement.
Palestine Action argues that the legislation is politically motivated and intended to shield British-Israeli military cooperation from accountability.
The group has said it will continue operations regardless of the legal consequences. “Direct action is necessary in the face of Israel’s ongoing crimes of genocide, apartheid and occupation,” it said.
Last month, Palestine Action members breached RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire and damaged two military aircraft used in British logistical support for Israel.
The government’s intention to proscribe the group triggered an immediate public response, with hundreds rallying in Trafalgar Square last week to protest the move.
UN experts and artists speak out
UN human rights experts on Tuesday called on the UK to abandon its plans, warning that classifying Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation would violate international norms.
“We are concerned at the unjustified labelling of a political protest movement as terrorist,” the UN special rapporteurs said in a joint statement.
They noted that under international law, terrorism must involve criminal acts intended to cause death, serious injury or hostage taking — not property damage alone.
“Acts of protest that damage property, but are not intended to kill or injure, should not be treated as terrorism,” the statement said.
They also warned that such a designation would have a “chilling effect” on political activism and undermine freedoms of expression, assembly and association in the UK.
“Individuals could be prosecuted for peacefully exercising their rights,” the experts said. “This would suppress legitimate dissent and advocacy related to defending human rights in Palestine.”
Meanwhile, more than 400 cultural figures signed an open letter condemning the government’s plan and calling for an end to arms sales to Israel.
Published by Artists for Palestine UK, the letter was signed by musicians Paul Weller, Brian Eno and Massive Attack’s Robert del Naja, along with US comedian Reggie Watts.
“Palestine Action is intervening to stop a genocide. It is acting to save life,” the letter said. “We deplore the government’s decision to proscribe it.
Labeling non-violent direct action as terrorism was described as “an abuse of language and an attack on democracy.
“The real threat to the life of the nation,” the artists concluded, “comes not from Palestine Action, but from the home secretary’s efforts to ban it.”
A spokesperson for Artists for Palestine UK added: “Never before has a decision like this been challenged so immediately by artists and so widely across the country.
“If the Government persists with this ban, it will face anger and opposition on a massive scale,” they said.
