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Break-in at controversial factory (From The Argus)
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Break-in at controversial factory
10:26am Saturday 17th January 2009 in News By Ben Parsons
An arms factory was broken into overnight.
Police said the trespassers caused "extensive damage" at EDO MBM Technology in Moulsecoomb.
They were called at 1.50am today.
A spokesman for Sussex Police said: "A number of arrests have been made and inquiries are continuing."
The factory has been the focus of regular demonstrations since 2004 by the Smash EDO group, which aims to close the factory down.
The campaigners claim the firm makes components used by Israel in its conflict in Gaza.
Two protests last year ended in violent confrontations with the police.
Police are asking anyone who saw anything suspicious at the factory in Home Farm Road, Moulsecoomb, this morning is asked to call Sussex Police quoting Operation Potato on 0845 6070999 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.
Comments(50)
oyl
says...
10:40am Sat 17 Jan 09
Extensive damage could translate to job losses in Brighton.
The protestors have their own agenda, and it's nothing to do with their anti-war facade.
oyl
says...
10:48am Sat 17 Jan 09
stan bailey
says...
10:57am Sat 17 Jan 09
stickman
says...
11:19am Sat 17 Jan 09
The Garden Slug
says...
11:21am Sat 17 Jan 09
These criminals are simply mis-guided lental eating, pot smoking, layabouts
stickman
says...
11:44am Sat 17 Jan 09
googoo
says...
11:45am Sat 17 Jan 09
Scoomer
says...
11:50am Sat 17 Jan 09
stan bailey
says...
11:53am Sat 17 Jan 09
stickman wrote:I thought they were raiding it because of Israels attacks on Gaza, as they appear to believe Islamic attacks are Ok on Israel, my point is that we do not like Islamic attacks on out underground and buses
You've tried to simplify Stan but got it wrong. Breaking into factories is a criminal act, bombing buses and trains is a criminal act - both should be punished. If it is decided that Israel has overreacted to Hamas aggression then they should be punished too.
Ronald
says...
12:02pm Sat 17 Jan 09
Osama bin there
says...
12:28pm Sat 17 Jan 09
Firstly, it is NOT an 'arms factory'.
They manufacture electrical components that are used in guided missile systems. They also make similar products for civilian aircraft. They are NOT arms manufacturers. They are an electronics firm, SOME of whose products are used in weapons guidance systems.
The reason they are constantly being hassled by the so called 'smash EDO' rent-a-mob is because they are a soft target. If this lot are so bothered, why don't they attack the factories where the bombs, missiles, etc are actually made? Answer - because it's too difficult.
Spuddy
says...
12:42pm Sat 17 Jan 09
SandraSandra
says...
1:04pm Sat 17 Jan 09
Osama bin there
says...
1:40pm Sat 17 Jan 09
SandraSandra wrote:I agree with everything you say - apart from the last sentence. How is it EDO's fault what the Israelis are doing in Gaza?
Whilst the people of Gaza have been slaughtered in their homes, schools and mosques world leaders have stood by and done nothing. Israel is committing war crimes. We can choose to stand by and do nothing or take action to stop this massacre. All over the world people are out on the street protesting. In Greece the ports refused to handle US arms shipments to Israel. Israeli companies are reporting that orders for their goods are being cancelled as international civil society takes action to boycott the brutal apartheid regime in Israel. We can all do something to support the people of Gaza. Well done to the 'decommissioners' for the contribution they have made.
If you take your argument to its logical conclusion, you should be attacking all the factories that make anything to do with weapons and bombs - down to the nuts and bolts, but I don't see anyone doing that.
Indeed it could be argued that the guidance systems that EDO manufacture parts for actually decrease civilian casualties because they allow the bombs to target more accurately.
Attack the REAL enemy, not the easy targets.
feline1
says...
2:27pm Sat 17 Jan 09
Night-watchman asleep in his hut watching VHS repeats of Dad's Army, was he?
GreenGrocer
says...
2:34pm Sat 17 Jan 09
This is not acceptable, neither is the Hamas group which seized power in Gaza and have randomly targeted areas in Israel, at least Israel has clinically (if there can ever be a clinical kill) targetted houses of Hamas, weapons dumps etc.
As an ordinary Brighton resident (or Brighton Citizen as EDO would no doubt say), I do not support either side in this argument, just pointing out the reported facts.
Stop the harassment of this company, and resort to proper peaceful action, I know of nobody in my area that thinks you are doing the right thing.
Smash EDO does not have my support, they are simply thugs.
feline1
says...
2:41pm Sat 17 Jan 09
just as the IRA were VOTED into their Northern Ireland assembly seats, which IRA Grand-High-Commander
-of-teh-Fleets Martin Maguinness currently Deputy First Minister.
Does this mean we can bomb Belfast? I hope so! lol SPIDE CULL!
GreenGrocer
says...
2:47pm Sat 17 Jan 09
feline1 wrote:lol, oh fair enough!
Er, Hamas were VOTED into power in Gaza by an election, just as the IRA were VOTED into their Northern Ireland assembly seats, which IRA Grand-High-Commander -of-teh-Fleets Martin Maguinness currently Deputy First Minister. Does this mean we can bomb Belfast? I hope so! lol SPIDE CULL!
Doesn't make either side right though, or the SMASH EDO thugs.
feline1
says...
3:19pm Sat 17 Jan 09
You sound to me like an ENEMY OF THE PEACE PROCESS! :)
Dave At Home
says...
4:07pm Sat 17 Jan 09
They smash up the place, fine. So now what? EDO MBM claim on their insurance policy to replace all their damaged equipment, that's good, I suppose they could do with updating their equipment, they put all their backed up data into the new machines and off they go and no cost to them... but the insurance company have to hike their premiums up next year and we will have to pay more for these mindless thugs actions.
Why don't they go after the insurance company and their staff for supporting 'an arms factory' because they are just as guilty.
Don't these morons think before they head off to destroy places?
MorrisonMorrison
says...
4:53pm Sat 17 Jan 09
bibble
says...
6:11pm Sat 17 Jan 09
Remember the demonstration, I think it was the biggest ever, in London against the second Gulf war? Tony Bliar said "I have heard you", then ignored it as if it meant nothing.
Politicians treat people as sheep. They don't like it when a few of those sheep turn into poachers.
Osama bin there
says...
6:24pm Sat 17 Jan 09
MorrisonMorrison wrote:'Arms factories not welcome in Brighton'.
"Demonstration fine", effecively stopping this arms factory from functioning and in doing so contributing to the rising death toll in Gaza 'unBritish'? I have felt very impotent seeing new unspeakable atrocities being committed every day (mostly unreported on mainstream news channels), attending demonstrations and being ignored by politicians, misrepresented in the media, and indiscriminately attacked by the police who's function it is to protect (corporate) property over people. It is time for urgent action. Arms factories not welcome in Brighton. Very well done.
Are you all being brainwashed by the 'Smash EDO' brigade?
It's not an 'arms factory'. It manufactures electronic components, some of which end up in guided missile systems. A lot of the components they manufacture end up in civilian aircraft.
I'm completely open to public demonstration against the Israeli atrocities that have been committed against the Palestinians over the last 60 years.
But EDO don't have anything to do with this problem, and to say they do is misleading in the extreme.
Go and demonstrate against the manufacturers of the actual warheads, if you want to do something that might actually be useful.
feline1
says...
7:45pm Sat 17 Jan 09
Moreover, think how much worse it could've been if the missiles WEREN'T guided!
Guerrero
says...
8:49pm Sat 17 Jan 09
Old Ale Man
says...
9:02pm Sat 17 Jan 09
Dresden comes to mind.
I'll telyou now there will never ever be peace between the arab and the jew!!!!!
So stick that in your hubble bubble pipe and smoke it.
Must get back tutbar, beers getting flat.
GreenGrocer
says...
10:49pm Sat 17 Jan 09
feline1 wrote:feline, you have completely the WRONG END OF THE STICK! I was talking about your comment about Hamas being voted in, not the rest of it! LOL!!!!!
Nonsense, Greengrocer- Martin Maguinness was RIGHT to murder all those people, it was a VALID POLITICAL STATEMENT on his part, and why all IRA convicts were released from prison under the Good Friday Agreement. You sound to me like an ENEMY OF THE PEACE PROCESS! :)
brooksby
says...
12:22am Sun 18 Jan 09
Osama bin there
says...
8:46am Sun 18 Jan 09
brooksby wrote:They don't. Read my previous posts.
Many of us have been deeply saddened by the treatment of the Palestinians over the past 40 years. Deprived of much of their homeland,tricked out of most of their water supplies, and finding themselves stateless second class citizens. This latest attack on Gaza is just the latest in a long history of violence stretching back into pre-history. Violence of both sides begets more violence. Northern Ireland shows that only forgiveness can bring peace. Why should Brighton jobs depend on perpetuating conflict in the Holy Land?
oyl
says...
9:07am Sun 18 Jan 09
brooksby wrote:Why should ignorant thugs wreck a factory because of tenuous and invented contentions with their beliefs? They are not targetting their efforts logically. Politicians perpetuate the conflict - not manufacturers of bits that get used in bits that get used in bits in fighter aircraft. Isn't that obvious?
Many of us have been deeply saddened by the treatment of the Palestinians over the past 40 years. Deprived of much of their homeland,tricked out of most of their water supplies, and finding themselves stateless second class citizens. This latest attack on Gaza is just the latest in a long history of violence stretching back into pre-history. Violence of both sides begets more violence. Northern Ireland shows that only forgiveness can bring peace. Why should Brighton jobs depend on perpetuating conflict in the Holy Land?
But that disconnection is irrelavent. The Smash EDO brigade is simply feeding off the glorious violence and hate that they seem to be able to generate. It's their way of life. If EDO actually did move out of Brighton, they would be disappointed and would have to find some other target.
And the effect of moving EDO out of Brighton would not affect arms production in any way, however you look at it.
Mr nothing head
says...
1:18pm Sun 18 Jan 09
Osama bin there wrote:Erm, they do depend on middle eastern conflict to keep them in business. They sell weapons components to Israel- therefore the jobs there do depend on that conflict. If there was none, the factory would not exist.
brooksby wrote:They don't. Read my previous posts.
Many of us have been deeply saddened by the treatment of the Palestinians over the past 40 years. Deprived of much of their homeland,tricked out of most of their water supplies, and finding themselves stateless second class citizens. This latest attack on Gaza is just the latest in a long history of violence stretching back into pre-history. Violence of both sides begets more violence. Northern Ireland shows that only forgiveness can bring peace. Why should Brighton jobs depend on perpetuating conflict in the Holy Land?
Check out EDO/MBM's own website, the front page has lots of pictures of bombs and fighter jets on it. Does that really look like they want to give the impression they're a company that primarily manufactures systems for 'civilian aircraft', as you say? There is more than enough evidence of them supplying components to the Israeli Air Force, components which are essential to them being able to drop bombs and fire missiles and in turn murder civilians in the Gaza Strip. Israel are categorically committing war crimes in Gaza, war crimes that would not be possible without these systems.
What these activists have done is to step in where the police and government won't, to stop these systems being made and crimes taking place. EDO's directors are aware of where their products are going and what they're being used for and are thus complicit in, and profiting from, war crimes.
The Raytheon 9 were aquitted for causing substantial damage to an arms factory because products made there were being used in an illegal war when Israel attacked Lebanon, read up on them.
You call these people 'rent-a-mob' but if they're willing to be arrested and quite obviously risk their personal liberty because they feel so strongly about something then it's clear your 'rent-a-mob' accusation is loaded nonsense.
By the way, ITT had great relationships with Hitler, Franco, Pinochet and continue to have with plenty of other corrupt, fascistic and tyrannical reigimes. Keep on sticking up for them!
Peaceful protest does not work and our version of 'democracy' is an illusion. I give my support to those involved in taking this action and hope very much they will be aquitted.
oyl
says...
1:30pm Sun 18 Jan 09
So did Germany. Should we now wreck Germany again?
Some individuals will celebrate activism for its own twisted sake. Nothing can make their cause right, and the weak arguments above just expose their silliness.
Fortunately, the vast majority of Brightonians dismiss them as nutters - that's all it needs in the end.
SmashEDO
says...
1:48pm Sun 18 Jan 09
Mr nothing head
says...
2:12pm Sun 18 Jan 09
oyl wrote:Germany are not a private company making weapons systems on our doorsteps that are used in illegal wars so, no, I don't suggest we 'wreck them'.
"By the way, ITT had great relationships with Hitler, Franco, Pinochet and continue to have with plenty of other corrupt, fascistic and tyrannical reigimes. Keep on sticking up for them!"
So did Germany. Should we now wreck Germany again?
Some individuals will celebrate activism for its own twisted sake. Nothing can make their cause right, and the weak arguments above just expose their silliness.
Fortunately, the vast majority of Brightonians dismiss them as nutters - that's all it needs in the end.
ITT were making cash payments to Heinrich Himmler and the SS pretty much up until the end of WW2... To the people who blather on with 'people fought for your freedom to protest blah blah'- this company were paying the people you were fighting against! This company were paying the people whose crimes against humanity warranted the state of Israel to be created in the first place! Convenient, hey? This company paid for the military coup in Chile to overthrow the democratically elected government and install a fascistic military dictatorship in the early 1970s.
Call me cynical but I somehow don't think they've particularly developed any moral backbone in that time and don't think we should give them the benefit of the doubt.
THEY
Matty B
says...
5:04pm Sun 18 Jan 09
The Israeli military does target civilians, just as Hamas has done, and there doesn`t have to be anyone shooting at them at the time either! Israel tends to kill more civilians. Fact. Don`t ever let anyone tell you otherwise. They`ve been doing it since before Hamas was created. Children have been shot at close range in Gaza. Houses bombarded, women and children shot at while carrying white flags;areas bulldozed; civilians shot at when trying to find refuge at hospitals, which have been hit by the Israeli military. Sandra Locke, a British woman at a hospital, is one witness. The UN says no firing has come from their buildings, and the Israelis have later admitted the UN was telling the truth.
Tom Hurndall, James Miller, Iain Hook were all Britons deliberately targetted by the Israeli army.
Don`t ever forget that Israel murdered US sailors on the USS Liberty, even shooting at them while they were in lifeboats. They tried to lie about that, but thankfully, surviving sailors say the Stars and Stripes was being flown! Bit hard to miss that! There is a site run by survivors who are angry about the cover-up by the US and Israel. Israel was hoping Egypt would get the blame and the US was getting ready to launch a nuclear attack on Egypt because of it. Imagine lying and seeing thousands of innocent people die as a result of that lie. Tony Blair has done that and they made him bloody 'Middle East Peace Envoy'! That`s sick satire.
Palestineremembered.
com recounts the massacres and complete devastation of towns and villages by terrorist gangs (one led by Rabin, no less). Good video section on the site.
Livni`s father helped plan the bombing of the King David Hotel, killing British personnel.
Hamas - which has some faults to put it mildly! - were elected because the Palestinian people had enough of the corruption of the Fateh run Palestinian Authority and because Abbas seems more interested in sucking up to Israel and the US.
Olmert now says he cares about all the children and innocents killed. If he cared he wouldn`t have targetted them with the embargo, rather than just the Hamas leadership. For years the Israeli navy has shot at Gazan fishing boats. Israel broke the ceaefire on the 4th November.
Unfortunately, Israel and the US has seen fit to help extremists rather than the nationalist and secular groups and decent people in the Middle East who don`t support terrorism. All the more to control the resources. They helped create Hamas with the help of Saudi money.
Read Noam Chomsky, Norman Finkelstein, Ilan Pappe, Avi Shlaim, Amira Haas, Sara Roy to find out about what has been done and is still being done to the Palestinian people. They are all Jewish writers as well. No doubt they will be called 'self-hating Jews'.
Recent article by Sara Roy:
http://www.lrb.co.uk
/v31/n01/print/roy_0
1_.html
A recent one from Stephen Zunes, entitled...'America'
s Hidden Role in Hamas's Rise to Power':
http://www.alternet.
org/audits/116855/am
erica%27s_hidden_rol
e_in_hamas%27s_rise_
to_power/
Matty B
says...
5:22pm Sun 18 Jan 09
'In the three years after the withdrawal from Gaza, 11 Israelis were killed by rocket fire. On the other hand, in 2005-7 alone, the IDF killed 1,290 Palestinians in Gaza, including 222 children.'
http://www.guardian.
co.uk/world/2009/jan
/07/gaza-israel-pale
stine
william of orange
says...
5:46pm Sun 18 Jan 09
Mr nothing head wrote:
Osama bin there wrote:Erm, they do depend on middle eastern conflict to keep them in business. They sell weapons components to Israel- therefore the jobs there do depend on that conflict. If there was none, the factory would not exist. Check out EDO/MBM's own website, the front page has lots of pictures of bombs and fighter jets on it. Does that really look like they want to give the impression they're a company that primarily manufactures systems for 'civilian aircraft', as you say? There is more than enough evidence of them supplying components to the Israeli Air Force, components which are essential to them being able to drop bombs and fire missiles and in turn murder civilians in the Gaza Strip. Israel are categorically committing war crimes in Gaza, war crimes that would not be possible without these systems. What these activists have done is to step in where the police and government won't, to stop these systems being made and crimes taking place. EDO's directors are aware of where their products are going and what they're being used for and are thus complicit in, and profiting from, war crimes. The Raytheon 9 were aquitted for causing substantial damage to an arms factory because products made there were being used in an illegal war when Israel attacked Lebanon, read up on them. You call these people 'rent-a-mob' but if they're willing to be arrested and quite obviously risk their personal liberty because they feel so strongly about something then it's clear your 'rent-a-mob' accusation is loaded nonsense. By the way, ITT had great relationships with Hitler, Franco, Pinochet and continue to have with plenty of other corrupt, fascistic and tyrannical reigimes. Keep on sticking up for them! Peaceful protest does not work and our version of 'democracy' is an illusion. I give my support to those involved in taking this action and hope very much they will be aquitted.brooksby wrote: Many of us have been deeply saddened by the treatment of the Palestinians over the past 40 years. Deprived of much of their homeland,tricked out of most of their water supplies, and finding themselves stateless second class citizens. This latest attack on Gaza is just the latest in a long history of violence stretching back into pre-history. Violence of both sides begets more violence. Northern Ireland shows that only forgiveness can bring peace. Why should Brighton jobs depend on perpetuating conflict in the Holy Land?They don't. Read my previous posts.
Excellent so if peaceful protest does not work can I do what I want as well to get what I want?...Down that path lies our own conflict, our own genocides, our own civil war.
Hamas are far from the innocent party - check out http://uk.youtube.co
m/watch?v=xtsvjB8efK
E
You will need a strong stomach...if they do that to their own ...what kind of animals are they?
Let them fight it out and if we can earn a few pounds on the way...so what?
Osama bin there
says...
6:31pm Sun 18 Jan 09
Matty B wrote:Look, I have no time for religious extremism on either side. But I know quite a bit about the formation of the state of Israel, by the British government of the time.
Sorry, yet another recent one! From Avi Shlaim...
'In the three years after the withdrawal from Gaza, 11 Israelis were killed by rocket fire. On the other hand, in 2005-7 alone, the IDF killed 1,290 Palestinians in Gaza, including 222 children.'
http://www.guardian.
co.uk/world/2009/jan
/07/gaza-israel-pale
stine
There is no doubt the the Palestinians were cheated, and then within a couple of years Israel unilaterally declared independence, outside the terms of the agreement, completely unopposed by the western world. And so it has been ever since.
People forget that so called Israeli freedom fighters massacred Palestinian villages in 1948/49.
My sympathies are totally with the Palestinian civilians, but not with Hamas.
However, all of this has nothing to do with EDO, and I wish people would stop making such facile links.
bibble
says...
6:36pm Sun 18 Jan 09
Peaceful protest rarely works. It is why countries have armed forces. You can talk forever (protest) but get nowhere. Might is right. History has shown that over and over.
It is no different for those people who have broken into EDO.
Sim1
says...
6:46pm Sun 18 Jan 09
Unfortunately components that were manufactured at EDO have been found in the remains of munitions targeting civilian areas during the bombing of Lebanon 2 years ago.
Also Jane's Defence Weekly list EDO as a supplier to the Israeli military.
If EDO would convert tomorrow to making civilian electronics, as other factories have done in the past then these protests would stop.
Osama bin there
says...
8:00pm Sun 18 Jan 09
Sim1 wrote:Yes, but if it wasn't EDO it would be someone else. They aren't bombing anyone, and the stuff they produce is electronic, not the warhead.
Osama BT:-
Unfortunately components that were manufactured at EDO have been found in the remains of munitions targeting civilian areas during the bombing of Lebanon 2 years ago.
Also Jane's Defence Weekly list EDO as a supplier to the Israeli military.
If EDO would convert tomorrow to making civilian electronics, as other factories have done in the past then these protests would stop.
It is the Israelis who are using what they produce, arguably illegally. It is they who should be demonstrated against, not EDO.
EDO do make products for civilian use as well.
I know this is a difficult one, but I just can't condone what the Smash EDO lot do, anymore than I can what the Israelis are doing in Gaza.
Sim1
says...
9:11pm Sun 18 Jan 09
The If it weren't me it would be someone else argument has yet so save a single drug dealer from prison.
Why should we accept it for something even more lethal?
In fact it might not even be true as there is one set of devices made by EDO that is custom built for the Israeli Air Force and them alone.
If I give a knife to someone knowing they might immediately use it to kill someone innocent I would be an accessory to murder.
Like I say, if EDO can make civilian products then they should, there are plenty of civilian aircraft out there...
william of orange
says...
9:19pm Sun 18 Jan 09
bibble wrote:
William of Orange, Peaceful protest rarely works. It is why countries have armed forces. You can talk forever (protest) but get nowhere. Might is right. History has shown that over and over. It is no different for those people who have broken into EDO.
Hmmm...so if EDO decided that the Police were inept, unwilling or unable to protect their lawful business ... and EDO then decided to hire some armed thugs (sorry private security) to deal with the protestors you would have no issue with that? Because might (as you say) is right after all. Or is it only your "might" that is right?
I suspect you would have an issue if they did that. Assuming you were not one of the ones dealt with in which case you would be beyond caring at that point!
Targetting EDO is a bit like picking on a steel works because they make metal that goes into tanks/planes etc!...why aren't we seeing protests outside Welsh steelworks - they make the raw material for bomb casings etc (assuming we have any steelworks left in this almost wholly service based economy!)? I'll tell you why...because you know you'd get short shrift from a couple of hundred Welsh steelworkers. Basically you wouldn't leave the Welsh valleys alive! So you pick on the perceived weak link.
One day you will find the weak link doesn't break and either we will have a Government that stands up to you (not this one obviously but their days are well and truly numbered)...or worse still the weak link will hire its own people to deal with you.
Be careful what you wish for...you might get it!
PB
says...
8:53am Mon 19 Jan 09
Meet outside the magistrates courts in Edward Road, Brighton, Monday at about 10 a.m. so that you can all engage in face to face peaceful discussion, while the protesters are inside, facing charges.
Carl Bugenhagen
says...
9:05am Mon 19 Jan 09
spongebobtrianglepants
says...
6:46pm Mon 19 Jan 09
spongebobtrianglepants
says...
6:55pm Mon 19 Jan 09
Ronald wrote:because ronald smash edo have there facts wrong as usual if what they say is true security would be tight there !
So how come an 'arms' factory, and a scene of previous demos and mindless vandalism was such a soft target as to allow these morons easy access? Cost of security getting in the way of profit?
WSGP
says...
9:13pm Mon 19 Jan 09
Clearly those who earn their living by being involved in goods supplied to or brought from a country like Israel that kill innocent woman and children can’t have a conscience and are proberly less than human.
Osama bin there
says...
10:31am Tue 20 Jan 09
How convenient for them.
Sim1
says...
12:17pm Tue 20 Jan 09
Wrong again, they've been mentioned repeatedly, including during court cases.
In fact supply to Israel has been one of the reasons for opposition to the factory since the very beginning.
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