Smash EDO Press Release -Brighton Police threaten 'Ringleaders' of Bomb Protest

Following police violence at the G20 protests in London, Sussex anti arms
trade campaigners anticipate a repressive stance at their Mayday Carnival
on May 4th. The Carnival will be a mass street party against war and
greed.

Despite Chief Constable Martin Richards warning officers to 'behave'
themselves at the event, (See  http://www.theargus.co.uk/search/4321000.Sussex_Police_chief_warns_officers_to_behave_at_Brighton_protest/)

there appears to be a continuing menacing undertone to police attitudes.

In an anonymous quote to the Brighton Argus on Monday 27th a police
spokeswoman said “there would be a police presence from early in the day
and officers would be ooking for ringleaders to try to ensure the event
passed peacefully.”

Previously Brighton police have targeted those they consider to be
ringleaders by following them around with specialist video teams.
( http://www.schnews.org.uk/schmovies/edo-numberone.mov)

An injunction taken out by EDO MBM on the advice of Sussex Police also
targeted 'ringleaders' – the injunction failed in the High Court.

Previous mass protests against the EDO MBM/ITT weapons factory in Brighton
have been met with pepper spray, baton charges, attack dogs and
indiscriminate police brutality. At the Shut ITT demonstration in October
2008 protesters were hospitalised and an NUJ journalist was savaged by a
police dog. Police from several counties including the Met's FIT team,
were present.

There is photographic evidence, from October, of police violence and
officers concealing their shoulder numbers.

For more info contact Chloe Marsh or Andrew Beckett on 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.”