Smash EDO Mayday Mayday! Street Party Against War and Greed

Smash EDO claim Brighton demo a success

Chloe Marsh, press spokesperson for Smash Edo said “The Mayday Mayday Street Party Against War and Greed was a huge success. Up to 2000 people took to the streets of Brighton to protest against EDO MBM/ITT's manufacture of weapons components used in Afghanistan, Iraq and Palestine, and the complicity of local branches of multinational corporations in the production of these weapons.”

“Despite media scaremongering over the last week, large crowds arrived on foot and on bikes, bringing sound-systems, banners and a carnival dragon.”

“Although the street party was mostly peaceful, there were at least 30 injuries, with many people being struck in the legs by baton-wielding police, some of whom concealed their numbers behind their shields. The police were never able to gain control of the demonstration and there was only one arrest.”

“Despite the the presence of police from Hampshire, Kent, Thames Valley, Nottinghamshire and Metropolitan Police FIT Teams, as well as Sussex Police and mounted police officers the protesters were in control of the streets and voiced their anger against capitalism and EDO's complicity in crimes against humanity”.

The demonstration focussed on investors in EDO MBM/ITT and companies who work with the arms factory. Demonstrators scaled scaffolding outside Barclays and hung a banner saying 'Bomb Builders out of Brighton', Barclays hold 6,823,719 shares in ITT Corporation. Other companies highlighted were HSBC, RBS, McDonalds and Lloyds, all of whom invest in ITT.”

For more info contact Chloe Marsh or Andrew Beckett on 07754135290

***

For more info contact Chloe Marsh or Andrew Beckett on 07754135290

E-mail: smashedopress@riseup.net

ENDS

For more Details call 07754135290

E-mail: smashedopress@riseup.net

Notes for Journalists

The Company

From their base in Moulescoombe Brighton, EDO MBM/ITT, a unit of ITT corporation, manufacture vital parts for the Hellfire and Paveway weapons systems, laserguided missiles used extensively in Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine and Somalia. EDO Corp were recently acquired by ITT in a multi-billion pound deal. ITT's links to fascism go back to the 1930s. The founder Sosthenes Behn was the first foreign businessman received by Hitler after his seizure of power.

The Campaign

There has been active campaign against the presence of EDO MBM in Brighton since the outbreak of the Iraq war. Campaigners include students, Quakers, Palestine solidarity activists, anti-capitalists and academics. Despite an injunction under the protection of harassment act (which failed) and over forty arrests the campaign is still going strong.Their avowed aim is to expose EDO MBM and their complicity in war crimes and to remove them from Brighton. They hold regular weekly demos outside the Moulescoombe factory on Wednesday's between 4 and 6.

THE FILM

On the Verge is an independent film about the SMASH EDO Campaign “In 2004 a group of Brighton peace campaigners began to bang pot and pans outside their local arms manufacturers EDO MBM in disgust of their part in the Iraq war. This has grown into the Smash EDO campaign, which has cost the company millions, been the subject of large scale police operations and has tested the right to protest in the UK.Using activist, police and CCTV footage plus interviews with those involved in the campaign, 'On The Verge' tells the story of one of the most persistent and imaginative campaigns to emerge out of the UK's anti-war movement and direct action scene.”