THROUGH THE ROOF

Last Friday (24th) anti-arms trade campaigners ended their 38 hour occupation of the rooftop of Raytheon’s missile and defence company in Bristol. Having begun at 6am on Thursday morning, they got settled on the roof with a tent and loads of banners but after refusing to talk with negotiators eventually the nine were eventually arrested. One protester said, “They have their offices here in our city. We feel it is our civic duty to bring this to the attention of the public..."

Raytheon is one of the big US arms manufacturers who have made a bomb (literally), particularly since the War of Terror™ began. Missiles are one of their specialities, including the Patriot, Sidewinder and Tomahawk. Protesters now want an investigation into claims that Raytheon is manufacturing cluster bombs.

In June this year, nine others (the official ‘Raytheon nine’) were acquitted, by unanimous verdict, of three counts of criminal damage at the Raytheon office in Northern Ireland. In this landmark case, protesters were acquitted as the prosecutors could produce no evidence against the defendants who were acting to prevent war crimes committed by Israel, using weapons supplied by Raytheon, during the Lebanon war (see www.raytheon9.org). It's official: opposing war crimes is no crime.

* This comes after another demo outside the Bristol Raytheon office the previous Tuesday (16th). Weekly protests are held there every Thursday.

See www.bristol.indymedia.org