Anti-war protesters to converge on city

by Kate Morrison
The Argus
 http://www.theargus.co.uk

Hundreds of anti-war protesters plan to converge on Brighton for the latest demonstration against a factory which makes bomb release components for fighter jets.

Campaigners from across the north and south of England are expected to flock to the city in a march against EDO MBM technology.

They will be met by masses of police on duty to guard the demonstration following a flare-up of violence at last week's 50-person demonstration outside the factory, when nine people were arrested and two police officers injured.

Smash EDO member Andrew Beckett said: "There was no violence from protesters at the last meeting. The police behaved extremely heavy-handedly.

"Part of the reason for holding the demonstration in the centre of town is so there are lots off people watching who can see how the police behave.

"We will have a solicitor and legal observers on hand and we will be filming as much as we can on video cameras."

Mr Beckett said that the large numbers of people arriving from other cities would not cause problems.

He said: "There is always this myth that people come in from outside to cause trouble. Everyone on this campaign shares the ethos of a peaceful protest."

Protesters will gather at The Level at noon tomorrow and hope to march through the city to Brighton police station to demand that police officers arrest the directors of EDO.

Members of Brighton and Hove campaign group Smash EDO say they have prepared a charge sheet against the company bosses accusing them of complicity with war crimes in Iraq.

EDO, in Home Farm Road, Brighton, makes parts for war planes, including the release mechanism for the Paveway IV system which was the most used munition in the Iraq war.

Tomorrow's protest will be the second since an injunction was granted against Smash EDO campaigners last month under a law that usually applies to stalkers.

Under the terms of the injunction the campaigners are allowed to demonstrate at any time in any numbers but are not allowed to enter an exclusion zone around the factory.

Mr Beckett said that at the last protest the police had forcibly confined the demonstration to a grass verge by the factory.

He added there was room for larger numbers of people if they decided to march up to EDO tomorrow.

Kevin Moore, Superintendent of Brighton Police, said that the police would have no problem with the gathering as long as it remained peaceful.

He said that they had not been told how many protesters to expect or that they planned to march up to the police station in John Street.

He said: "If people step outside the law then they must expect the police to respond. If they break the law they will be arrested.

"The Level is not like the factory, which is out of town and free of traffic. We have to make sure that ordinary residents and shoppers don't have their day disrupted.

"We are happy for them to march as long as they go where we want them to go. If they move outside of that then we will stop them."

On hearing of Smash EDO's plans to deliver evidence against EDO to Brighton police station he said: "We will not be investigating them for war crimes because that is nonsense."