Council to hold ‘urgent meeting’ with arms firm bosses
SOMERSET Council is set to have an “urgent meeting” with the Israeli arms company renting one of its buildings after a third council meeting was disrupted by protesters.
An office block to the north of Bristol owned by the council is leased to weapons manufacturer Elbit Systems, a key supplier of the Israeli military. The Aztec West 600 building off junction 16 of the M5 – which is in the South Gloucestershire council area – was bought as an investment by Sedgemoor District Council in 2020, and inherited by Somerset Council which now plans to sell it off.
But campaign group Palestine Action have called for the council to immediately evict the arms company from the building. On Monday, the group disrupted one of the council’s meetings for the third time.
Local campaigners brought a large banner bearing the names of Palestinians killed into a meeting of Somerset Council’s property and investments sub-committee, and handed out pictures of children injured and killed during the current conflict in Gaza.
One protester told the meeting: “If your party is clearly stating on a national level that they would like to see a ceasing in arms sales happening, then you are within your political rights legally and morally and also in line with your party to evict Elbit from your site. That is a concrete tangible thing you could do. Taking action rather than just saying words.”
The meeting of the council’s property and investments subcommittee was suspended and later resumed in private session. Councillors unanimously passed
an amendment – proposed by Liz Leyshon and seconded by Richard Wilkins – to set up an “urgent meeting” with Elbit to clarify the current and future use of the premises, and to task the council’s top legal advisors to report on what options the council has as landlord “in the light of the recent public concerns and protests.”
A spokesperson for Somerset Council said: “We respect the freedom of individuals and groups to exercise their right to peaceful protest, and fully welcome public participation in the democratic process.
However, we cannot carry out important business of the council while being continually disrupted which is why a decision was made to suspend the meeting until such time as it could be resumed.
“We have contractual obligations regarding the lease on this legacy investment property, which is currently in our commercial investments disposal programme, and we are committed to ensuring that we have obtained and considered all information which will allow us to make legitimate decisions regarding this property.”
Palestine Action describes itself as “a direct-action network of groups and individuals formed with the mandate of taking action against the sites of Elbit Systems and other companies complicit in Israeli apartheid, calling for all such sites to be shut down.”
The group has twice sprayed red paint across County Hall in Taunton, the headquarters of Somerset Council.
In December, Somerset Council passed a motion to write to the government to call for a bilateral ceasefire in Gaza.