Carmel-Agrexco Blockaded

Carmel-Agrexco Blockaded

Thirteen Palestine solidarity protesters from London and Brighton are blockading the UK base of an Israeli agricultural export company Agrexco (UK) Ltd, Swallowfield Way, Hayes, Middlesex.

This is the second day of action against Agrexco on one of their busiest weekends of the year. Agrexco are dealing with large amounts of Israeli flowers in the build up to Valentine's Day. On Saturday over a hundred protesters stood in front of the gates of the depot and deliveries had to be rescheduled.

Agrexco is Israel's largest exporter of agricultural produce into the European Union, and is 50% Israeli state owned. It imports produce from illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

This morning activists locked themselves to both gates of the Hayes depot. They were met with violence by privates security guards from First Class Protection. The blockade is currently stopping all motor vehicle traffic in and out of the building.

Before taking part in this action many of the defendants had witnessed first hand the suffering of Palestinian communities under the brutal Israeli occupation. They do not accept the UK's complicity in the illegal occupation of Palestine and see the presence of this company as a violation of human rights.

BACKGROUND

Carmel-Agrexco is 50% owned by the state of Israel, and imports produce from illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank. At the same time Israeli forces have blocked Palestinian exports on grounds of 'security'.

Israeli state sponsored settlements have appropriated land and water resources by military force from Palestinian farmers in a deliberate policy of colonial settlement.

In a hearing in September the judge ruled that Agrexco (UK) must prove that their business is lawful.

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