Smash EDO to lay siege to Brighton Weapons Factory

Brighton anti-arms trade campaigners SMASH EDO have announced the location of their latest demo. On October 13th, they are encouraging activists to gather in Brighton's Wild Park, on the doorstep of EDO ITT, the target of a long-running campaign. Previous mass demonstrations have seen hundreds of campaigners breaking through police lines to converge on the factory.

Andrew Beckett, campaign spokesperson said "We are going to lay siege to EDO ITTs weapon manufacturing facility. We will maintain a presence all day to shut down this factory of death".

EDO ITT were the weapons company at the centre of the 'decommissioning' storm earlier this year. In January 2009, six people put the plant out of action with hammers. On the 2nd July 2010 they were unanimously acquitted by a jury.

In the wake of the decommissioner's victory SMASH EDO have announced 'ITT's HAMMERTIME' a mass demonstration aimed at shutting down the factory. Chloe Marsh, campaigner said "Every hour, every minute that this factory is out of action, is another blow struck at the war-machine which is currently destroying lives in Afghanistan." The documents recently released by Wikileaks show the true nature of the NATO led occupation of Afghanistan: the murder of civilians, extrajudicial assasinations and indiscriminate bombings, which have been the unreported rule since its inception. ITT's HAMMERTIME will bring the war home to ITT's doorstep.

For more info contact: Andrew Beckett or Chloe Marsh, Smash EDO campaign Tel: 07526557436 E-mail:  smashedopress@riseup.net Website:
www.smashedo.org.uk

Notes for journalists

ITT's Hammertime will be converging at the Wild Park Cafe - for directions click here  http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2010/09/463939.html

For more info and updates on the demo see
www.smashedo.org.uk/hammertime.htm

Who are EDO/ITT?

The EDO factory on Home Farm Road in Brighton, where the decommissioning took place, has been part of ITT Corporation (www.itt.com), since December 2007.

Before ITT took over the factory was known as EDO MBM, a trading unit of the EDO Corporation
( http://web.archive.org/web/20070716124730/http://www.edocorp.com/), another US company which acquired EDO MBM
( http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-23543062_ITM) in 2003 and was bought by ITT in 2007. Prior to that the factory was owned by the Emblem Group, a British company.

ITT stands for International Telegraph and Telecom. The company was established in 1920 and diversified to weapons production in the 1930s when it acquired the German Focke-Wulf company who were a manufacturer of aircraft for the Nazi Luftwaffe. It is now the 19th largest defence manufacturer in the world.

The Campaign against EDO

Campaigners have been calling for the closure of EDO MBM/ITT since 2004. The campaign was kickstarted with a roof occupation and lock-on at the factory in May 2004 and demonstrations have taken place every week since then. Several protest camps have been held outside the factory and recent mass demonstrations at the factory have attracted thousands of people, for example at last years Mayday demonstration.