Bristol arms manufacturers are targetted

bristol | peace | news report Friday August 11, 2006 09:00 by nickleberry

Yesterday at 8am around thirty people gathered at the roundabout on Coldharbour Lane, Frenchay, opposite the main entrances to both UWE and Bristol Business Park. They were there because the Bristol Business Park is home to offices belonging to RAYTHEON, one of the biggest arms manufacturers in the world.

Protest banner: "Raytheon kill people for money"

The thirty strong contingent were responding to a call to demonstrate that had been issued only a few hours previously:
http://bristol.indymedia.org.uk/newswire.php?story_id=25266

Banners like the one above were displayed to the rush hour traffic who until then were probably not aware of the dark forces in their midst. After an hour of this the group paraded to the offices of Raytheon where they chanted various slogans, banged drums and generally sought to make their point to the workers inside. For, like it or not, these workers have blood on their hands - they are participants in a process which puts guns in the hands of murderers, and which drops bombs on towns and villages around the world...

At the end of the protest a short `open-mike' session was held, during which participants agreed that Raytheon's appalling activities warranted a great deal of ongoing opposition; the intention is for people to return next Friday morning at 8am to make their point again. [I'm hoping others will post details on this newswire to confirm; as well as other photos that they may have of this protest...]

THE LEBANESE CONNECTION

The urgency of the call-out to yesterday's protest will probably be explained if I tell you that, amongst many other things (Raytheon are the biggest missile manufacturer in the world), Raytheon make components for the Guided Bomb Unit-28 (GBU-28) "bunker buster" bombs which recently made their way from the US to Israel via Prestwick Airport. We must hope that they do not continue their journey to be dropped on the people of Lebanon....

In light of the continuing war in the Middle East, we must do all we that we can to bring about peace. Raytheon is a company which feeds on war and which provides the hardware that orphans children and obliterates families. There activity must be exposed and, ultimately, stopped. Join us!

MORE INFORMATION

Corporate Watch's excellent account of Raytheon's activities: http://www.corporatewatch.org.uk/?lid=138
Information about the Bunker Buster bomb: http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/munitions/gbu-28.htm
BBC coverage of protests at Prestwick Airport: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/glasgow_and_west/5227582.stm
Raytheon also make cluster bombs: http://www.commondreams.org/views01/0226-06.htm
Raytheon's (sickening) homepage: http://www.raytheon.co.uk/
Raytheon's Bristol offices: http://www.raytheon.co.uk/about/bristol.html
A new Bristol blog about Raytheon: http://stopbristolarmstraders.myblogvoice.com/