On Saturday 8th around ten activists picketed the recently opened SodaStream shop in Brighton. They were there as part of the global campaign for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions aimed at ending Israel's oppression of the Palestinians by a campaign of targetted economic isolation. SodaStream operate a plant in Israeli Occupied Palestinian territory, despite its illegality under international law. The company is keen to push their dubious eco credentials - which is why they've chosen Green Brighton as a location for their first shop in the UK. They only have a six month lease, so it is not expected that their presence will last long. The company have been expecting a campaign against them and this was demonstrated by the fact that they had pre-prepared their own leaflets to obfuscate any claims made against them.

During the two hours some people crawled out of the woodwork to defend the company. This unwholesome bunch included three Christian Zionists who claimed to live above the shop and complained about the megaphone, although their problem wasn't the megaphone's volume, so much the anti-Zionist messages that came out of it. . Another hung around phoning his mates who kept turning up and making threatening noises without actually seeming to know any thing about Israel or Palestine (when quizzed they were clueless about the finer details of both the Sykes-Pycot Agreement and the Wye River Accords) SchNews spoke to one picket who said "The whole thing clearly seemed to be orchestrated and they all said they'd be back. with reinforcements next week."

These demos will continue every Saturday at 1pm at the Old Post Office near Waitrose on Western Road.

Also in this weeks Schnews:

Culling Me Softly | Squatting Fightback | Bypass Operation | | Doing a Runnymede | Failed Threats