Palestine Action at Teledyne Defence and Space: Transit van driven into front of Yorkshire weapons factory
A Transit van crashed through the gates of a weapons factory in Yorkshire in the early hours of the morning, police have confirmed.
The incident happened shortly before 5am this morning (Jan 28) at Teledyne Defence and Space in Baildon.
West Yorkshire Police said the van smashed through the gates before a number of protestors “secured themselves to the vehicle”.
In an email sent to The Yorkshire Post, Palestine Action said it was members of its group which had taken part in the protest.
A statement from West Yorkshire Police said: “Shortly before 5am this morning (Jan 28) police were called to an incident at the Teledyne premises in Baildon where protesters had rammed a vehicle through gates and secured themselves to the vehicle.
“Police are at the scene and working to safely remove them.”
The site has been targeted by Palestine Action twice before, while the group also caused £1m in losses to the company when it targeted its Teledyne Labtech factory in Wales in 2022.
A spokesperson for Palestine Action said it was targeting the company due to it having licences to export weapons to Israel.
UPDATE FROM WEST YORKSHIRE POLICE 3.50PM
Two people have been arrested following a policing operation this morning (Tuesday 28 January) at Teledyne premises in Baildon.
A van weighted down with concrete was used to ram the security bollards and two people then locked themselves to the concrete refusing to move.
Specialist police resources attended the location to resolve the incident.
A man aged 27 and woman aged 44 were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit criminal damage and are now in police custody.