Home | Friday 27th June 2008 | Issue 637

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THE FRUIT OF ALL EVIL

Carmel Agrexco’s UK depot was shut down last Saturday in another action against the Israeli company, who import produce grown on occupied Palestinian land. Early in the morning activists d-locked onto the gate, vehicle barrier and a lorry, while others climbed on the lorry. The Israeli flag which normally flies over the building was replaced with a black flag, representing the Palestinian deaths in Gaza.

The depot was blockaded for six hours, and the protesters were forcibly removed at 12 noon – but again, with no arrests. While police ignored the violence by security against the protesters, the police sergeant told protesters that the instruction to not arrest was an order from ‘higher up’. In fact, like on previous occasions, Carmel don’t want court cases and scrutiny of their illegal activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territories put under the spotlight.These actions are becoming a regular thorn in the side of the Israeli-owned company. The sustained campaign against Carmel is a win-win for the protesters- without arrests there’s nothing stopping protesters from coming back time and time again.

Spokesperson Tom Hayes said, “Agrexco is responsible for human rights crimes against the Palestinian people. The British supermarkets which buy produce from Agrexco are also complicit. Handling stolen goods is an offence whether the offender is a supermarket or an agribusiness. Agrexco must be held liable for its ‘unlawful business’.”

This action commemorated 60 years since the Palestinian ‘Nakba’ (Catastrophe) - the theft of Palestinian land, massacres, expulsions and creation of over 700,000 refugees with the founding of the state of Israel in 1948.

This is just the latest action against Carmel – earlier actions saw protesters having charges dropped, and later, people just weren’t arrested, to avoid Carmel’s activities being brought up in court. See SchNEWS 529, 571, 597, 600, 620, 624

* For more see www.bigcampaign.org.uk

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