Five supporters of Palestine Action received prison sentences at Glasgow Sheriff Court on 20 August. All faced charges of breach of the peace, with two also charged with damaging property. Four of the five were sentenced to 12 months while the fifth was ordered to serve 14 months for the additional charge of behaving in a threatening and abusive manner. The five have been dispersed between two Scottish prisons.
The young activists (all in their early 20s) shut down the Thales factory in Govan on 1 and 2 June 2022, in opposition to Thales’s contracts with the Israeli weapons company Elbit Systems, which it works with to produce Watchkeeper drones for the British army. Essentially this is a British, French (the French state is Thales’s largest shareholder) and Israeli collaboration on military technology. The Watchkeeper is based on Elbit’s Hermes 450 drone which is used by the Israeli military for surveillance and targeting. They are sold to the world as ‘battle tested’ and have been linked to numerous war crimes in Palestine and Lebanon, including the murder of seven aid workers in Gaza, in April this year. Experts claim the Hermes 450 may itself run on a British-made engine, manufactured by Elbit’s subsidiary UAV Engines Limited (UEL), which is based in the West Midlands village of Shenstone. Israeli war crimes start on our doorstep.
FRFI supporters were among the family, friends and campaigners who gathered outside and inside the court to support the Thales 5. We also gathered in solidarity with the ‘World Athletics 2’ who were also facing sentencing for protesting against British complicity in the genocide. The two young activists from This Is Rigged held a Palestine flag on the Emirates arena track during the World Athletics Championships in Glasgow in March 2024, and were each found guilty of breach of the peace and given six months suspended sentences.
In sentencing the Thales 5, Sheriff John N McCormick stated;
‘…the court cannot ignore the hazard you posed to yourselves and to others, the alarm to staff, the cost to the company and to the public purse and that it has to send a signal that such unlawful and reckless actions will attract custodial sentences where appropriate.’ (our emphasis).
This is a political sentence, to scare others from taking such action. Its punitive harshness cannot be understood without seeing this. The five social work reports handed to McCormick recommended alternatives to prison sentences and one described the protest as ‘non-violent’, which McCormick disputed. Four of the five had no prior convictions and none had been arrested in the two years since the action. The prison overcrowding crisis in Scotland did not prevent the creation of new political prisoners here.
The five were advised by their solicitors to accept a plea bargain which meant they pleaded guilty in return for the removal and downgrading of certain charges. This meant that the prosecution claims, voiced by the Sheriff in sentencing and parroted by the media since, could not be challenged as no trial took place. Once again, we see that entering guilty pleas, particularly in political cases, does not guarantee leniency.
The ‘signal’ McCormick is sending is to the wider Palestine solidarity movement which has been mobilising hundreds of people since the outbreak of the Israeli genocide in Gaza to regularly shut down factories such as Thales. There are currently two other live court cases in Glasgow involving 17 people who were arrested for blockading Thales earlier this year to demand Scotland Stop Arming Israel. Four picketers were arrested on the Nakba Day blockade on 15 May and 13 arrests were made on 3 July, with the police viciously assaulting, and arresting a dozen protesters, who were peacefully dispersing at Govan subway. One officer was filmed screaming ‘Run for your lives!’ and 3 of the 13 had to receive hospital treatment due to police batons and mace spray.
In Edinburgh, there are currently two court cases involving six Palestine Action supporters, who shut down the Leonardo factory due to its production of laser targeting systems for Israel’s F-35 fighter jets. In total there are at least 11 current court cases in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Dundee involving those who have protested for Palestine, including two FRFI supporters who protested against Labour Party leader Keir Starmer’s visit to Glasgow in December 2023.
Thales is a French a multinational company and one of the largest ‘defence’ electronics companies in Europe. In 2023 its profits rose to €2.13bn ($2.31bn) which is predicted to rise again this year, with Thales CEO Patrice Caine citing the wars in Ukraine and Gaza as among the factors. In Britain alone, Thales UK reported revenues (or sales) of €1.2bn for 2023. Globally its value has swelled to €33bn, and its order book has reached a record high, at €45bn.
On 24 August, Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! joined a lively national Palestine solidarity march in Edinburgh, organised by the Edinburgh Gaza Genocide Emergency Committee. FRFI supporters marched with friends and family of the Thales 5 behind our ‘Free the Thales 5’ banner. Hundreds of people applauded the partner of one of the imprisoned activists when she spoke at the beginning of the march calling for solidarity:
‘As you can see these five are wonderful and what they did was right and harmed absolutely no one. Except for the financial profits of Thales, a company involved in genocide. The media are trying to make these five out to have done something dangerous, but we know that it is Thales that is dangerous, Thales that is killing Palestinians and Thales that is directly involved in the genocide. Thales has blood on their hands, not the Thales 5’.
Scotland Stop Arming Israel!
Oppose criminalisation!
Free the Thales 5!
Court rally:
Defend the Starmer 2! Drop the charges now! (intermediate diet)
Tuesday 24 September, 9.30am
Glasgow Sheriff Court and Justice of the Peace Court
G5 9DA
(Bring Palestine flags & placards)
You can also write to Palestine Action prisoners at:
