Rooftop protest continues at Raytheon ahead of this afternoon's protest

bristol | peace | news report Thursday December 11, 2008 13:03 by Ed Hill - Smash Raytheon EdwardHill1 at yahoo dot co dot uk

Anti-war protesters have braved sub-zero temperatures in the night to continue their rooftop protest at the Raytheon office block in Frenchay near Bristol.

At daybreak they unfurled banners and have been shouting slogans over a megaphone. Their action leads up to a major demonstration planned outside the offices TODAY between 3 and 6pm today (Thursday 11th December)

Transport available from central Bristol - meet 2pm at the Red Factory, Portland Square, St Pauls

This morning supporters on the ground delivered a letter to the office unit, Argentum House, informing them that Raytheon is breaching international law and should be given notice to leave.

The Raytheon office is at Argentum House, Bristol business Park Frenchay, near the MOD site at Abbeywood. This is the third roof-top protest as part of a total of eight on-going weekly protests at the Raytheon offices in Frenchay,

One roof-top protester said “The US and Britain had no more right to invade Iraq or Afghanistan than Nazi Germany did to invade Poland or France. Raytheon played their part by producing foul, indiscriminate weapons and we won’t be quiet till they have left our city for good.”

RAYTHEON
Raytheon are 4th largest arms company in the world with a $20 billion turnover per year. They are involved massively in the manufacture or delivery systems of WMD. They are the biggest cruise missile maker (Patriot and tomahawk). Their range of both cruise-missiles and plane-dropped bombs can be loaded with cluster bombs. Cluster bombs are indiscriminate weapons killing civilians and soldiers alike. During the 2006 War on Southern Lebanon, Raytheon were supplying the Israeli military who were using the weaponry on civilian targets and deliberately sprayed millions of bomblets throughout the country. They also manufacture DU depleted-Uranium tipped Bunker Busters bombs, such as the ones that killed hundreds of civilians in the Amiriyah shelter in Baghdad. DU has had devastating health effects on civilian population of Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as on British soldiers. Raytheon munitions were used extensively in the destruction of the city of Fallujah during the second Iraq war. Have the UK contract with MOD for UK inland security and the Olympics, plus are involved with the new military training academy being built at St Athens in South Wales. They are also researching military technology for civilian control, such as a sinister crowd-dispersal microwave beam called “The Silent Guardian” which causes intense burning effects on the recipients.

Background notes:
Videos and info on previous demonstrations at Raytheon in Bristol see www.RaytheonOut.wordpress.com
Previous protest http://bristol.indymedia.org/article/689068
Raytheon cluster-bomb systems see http://thisworldisnotforsale.com/dawc/myReportOnCluster....html
Raytheon Bunker Busters bombs see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amiriyah_shelter

In August 2006 Anti-War protesters in Derry organized a non-violent occupation of Raytheon's plant in the Ulster Science and Technology Park and were acquitted recently. See http://www.thisworldisnotforsale.com/