This is the moment scores of protesters blocked a prison van during a huge demonstration outside a London court where four activists were jailed for a violent raid on an Israel-linked arms factory.
Demonstrators lay on the road while others banged against the van that was believed to be carrying four people sentenced for destroying equipment at the Elbit Systems plant in Bristol, in a raid which left a police officer with a fractured spine.
More than 100 people were arrested for showing support for Palestine Action outside Woolwich Crown Court on Friday, according to the Metropolitan Police.
Police vans arrived outside the court to ferry demonstrators away after the first person was arrested at about 1.20pm, with the total rising to 107 by about 6pm.
Campaigners had gathered outside court in support of four Palestine Action activists who were being sentenced over the violent raid at the Israel-based defence firm’s UK factory.
About 200 people sat outside the court on Friday, holding signs saying “Saving lives is not terrorism I support Palestine Action”, according to the Defend our Juries campaign.
As each protester was carried away, with one officer holding each limb, crowds applauded while others berated the officers.
Some of the chants were “you’re complicit in genocide” and “Met Police, shame, shame, all the crimes in your name”.
In a statement, the Metropolitan Police said: “A number of arrests have been made during a protest in south-east London.
“All are currently in police custody.”
Charlotte Head, 23, Samuel Corner, 30, Leona Kamio, 30, and Fatema Rajwani, 21, were in an old prison van which crashed into the Elbit Systems site near Bristol in the early hours of August 6 2024.
The activists, all wearing red boilersuits, caused an estimated £1 million in damage, after destroying computers, drones, and other equipment with sledgehammers and crowbars they had taken with them.
Corner, who fractured police officer Kate Evans’ spine with a sledgehammer, was jailed for seven years and eight months, Head and Kamio each for five years and Rajwani for four years and eight months.
In a statement after the sentences were handed down, Labour MP John McDonnell, who was at the protest until midday, said: “The scale of the sentences on these young people is truly shocking.
“It is unprecedented for people to receive such heavy sentences for undertaking direct action as a form of protest.
“To sentence them on terrorist grounds which was never put before a jury is unjust. This is an appalling judgment and must be challenged.”
Earlier, after news the judge had ruled that the raid had a “terrorist connection” reached the protesters outside, chants of “Met police, KKK, you’re all the same”, “direct action is not terrorism” and “death to the IDF” were heard.
There were boos as the judge’s livestreamed sentencing remarks were played through a microphone.
Moazzam Begg, 57, a senior director of Cage International, who spent nearly three years as a prisoner at Guantanamo Bay without being charged, was among the protesters.
He said: “It’s pretty nonsensical. Had (the jury) known (they’d be given a ‘terrorist connection’), it’s likely that they wouldn’t have convicted. I’ve been imprisoned here before in the past and one thing I’ve seen for the past 20-odd years, is that the terrorism laws have gone from bad to worse.
“Nowhere in the trial was it said that this is terrorism. And that’s the problem, because it’s almost lying to and deceiving the jury.”
Shortly after the judge finished his remarks, police began making their way into the crowd to give a dispersal order, and protesters were being told they must leave the area by 7.25pm.
A few hundred remained and some blocked the prison van believed to be carrying the defendants from leaving by lying down in the road.
Dozens of police officers could be seen standing around the van, as some protesters were banging on the side of the Serco vehicle.
Officers could be seen with batons drawn while one shoved a protester after they tried to open the transport vehicle door.
Metropolitan Police Territorial Support Group officers were called in to remove protesters lying in front of the van.
The vehicle, flanked by dozens of officers, managed to reverse and drive away at around 8.53pm.
