Five Bristol residents were charged on Monday 18th June with 2 charges relating to their occupation of BAE Systems in Filton, Bristol on Thursday 26th April this year. The group occupied an office in New Filton House, the Bristol HQ of the arms firm, for one and a half hours. Hanging a banner reading 'BAE Systems: Corruption and Destruction: Business as Usual' from the office, the group were drawing attention to the dropped Serious Fraud Office investigation into corruption with the Al-Yamamah deal with Saudi Arabia.
The five have been charged with 'Obstruction of persons engaged in lawful activity' and 'Obstruction of a constable in execution of duty' and are due to appear at Northavon Magistrates Court, Yate on 27th June at 9.45am.
The group state that “we are a group of individuals who have decided not to stand by and accept this takeover of our society by murdering, cheating, lying gangs of thugs like BAE Systems. We're going to fight the arms trade until it disappears. We're going to keep on laughing at the myth that any corporation will act responsibly. It will only ever act in the interests of its shareholders, who are made of other corrupt organisations. Quite simply, we're not going to let BAE get away with it, and we hope you wont either”.
The Serious Fraud Office announced that it was dropping its investigations into BAE Systems' dealings with Saudi Arabia in December 2006, at the behest of the Attorney General and the Prime Minister, Tony Blair. Meanwhile investigations continue into corrupt deals with Czech Republic, Romania, Qatar, Tanzania, South Africa and Chile.
The group further state “We cannot allow companies like BAE to continue with impunity. It's up to normal people like those who took part in this action to confront them and to struggle for a world where they have no place. The arms industry, like the capitalist system that spawns it, cannot be reformed, made less corrupt or somehow more ethically sound. There are many ways that we can start to take them down. Let's start now!”.
The group state that “we are a group of individuals who have decided not to stand by and accept this takeover of our society by murdering, cheating, lying gangs of thugs like BAE Systems. We're going to fight the arms trade until it disappears. We're going to keep on laughing at the myth that any corporation will act responsibly. It will only ever act in the interests of its shareholders, who are made of other corrupt organisations. Quite simply, we're not going to let BAE get away with it, and we hope you wont either”.
The Serious Fraud Office announced that it was dropping its investigations into BAE Systems' dealings with Saudi Arabia in December 2006, at the behest of the Attorney General and the Prime Minister, Tony Blair. Meanwhile investigations continue into corrupt deals with Czech Republic, Romania, Qatar, Tanzania, South Africa and Chile.
The group further state “We cannot allow companies like BAE to continue with impunity. It's up to normal people like those who took part in this action to confront them and to struggle for a world where they have no place. The arms industry, like the capitalist system that spawns it, cannot be reformed, made less corrupt or somehow more ethically sound. There are many ways that we can start to take them down. Let's start now!”.
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