By George Mills. Cover image, activists scale the Solvay factory in 2021, via Palestine Action
On Friday 13th of October, three Palestine Action activists appeared in Mold Crown Court to issue their pleas, as they were charged with criminal damage relating to the closure of the Solvay Factory on Wrexham Industrial estate in November 2021.
The three defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges and will appear in Mold Crown Court before a jury on April 15th, 2024, for a 2-week trial.
The three men, including voice.wales journalist Mark Redfern, have been charged with criminal damage after allegedly causing thousands of pounds worth of damage to the Solvay factory.
They targeted the factory after it was revealed that the company supplies parts and adhesives that are used in Israeli drones that bombard and kill Palestinians living under the Israeli occupation.
The defendants, if found guilty, could face up to 12 months in prison for their protest.
Speaking to voice.wales, Mark stated: ‘These companies are making money hand over fist in the killing business. They’re only alright with it because it’s not their families cornered in Gaza, scared out of their wits. The cruel sods profiting from the bloodshed in Palestine going on right now operate in our towns and cities right under our noses.”
“We’ll let the jury decide whether or not these arms companies have the right to make their weapons of war in peace.”
Violence against Palestinians by the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) has escalated on a scale not seen in the region since the Nakba in 1948, following an unprecedented incursion by Hamas into Israeli territory.
Israel’s response to the attack – which saw over 1,000 military personnel and civilians killed, as well as the breaking down of a section of the infamous border wall – has been that of severe brutality.
Schools, hospitals and entire communities have been levelled by Israeli bombs, of which more have been dropped in a week on Gaza, than the US dropped on Afghanistan in a whole year. Approximately 6000 bombs, weighing 4000 tonnes, have been used against a civilian population on a 2-mile stretch of land that is one of the most densely populated areas on earth, often regarded as ‘the world’s largest open-air prison’
In just 10 days, the UN said that at least 4,200 Palestinians had been killed. On Thursday morning, Al Jazeera reported that over 100 families had fled five residential towers before they were flattened by Israel. They are now on the streets, with UN schools, universities and wedding halls now at capacity.
The United Nations have described Israel’s actions as ethnic cleansing.
Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territories stated, ‘In the name of self-defence, Israel is seeking to justify what would amount to ethnic cleansing,’
‘Any continued military operations by Israel have gone well beyond the limits of international law. The international community must stop these egregious violations of international law now, before tragic history is repeated’.
Meanwhile, almost 800 scholars have signed an open letter warning of genocide.
As scholars and practitioners of international law, conflict studies and genocide studies,” they write, “we are compelled to sound the alarm about the possibility of the crime of genocide being perpetrated by Israeli forces against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.”
Owain Parry, another of the accused facing trial in Mold Crown Court, said that the extreme violence of the Israeli military demonstrates the need for people everywhere to act, “The war crimes of the Israeli government during the last 10 days committed against the Palestinian people has demonstrated the necessity for action to be taken now more than ever.”
“We cannot sit back and allow companies in the UK to play an active role in genocide. It is our duty as human beings to fight against oppression and for a free Palestine.”
Palestine Action have carried out direct protests in other areas of Wales as well, such as a Teledyne factory in Presteigne, Powys. The activists are currently serving sentences from 23 to 27 months in prison after being found guilty of criminal damage and accused of causing over a million pounds worth of damage to the American-owned factory.
The third accused activist, Thomas Bell, believes that despite the sentences that face them, it pales in comparison to the hardships that the Palestinian people endure every day, “Even the worst outcome for me, spending some time behind bars, is a fraction of the suffering the Palestinians go through every single day.”
“In the end, history will look back at these atrocities for what they are. With a clear head, I’ll be able to say I did something about it, can others say the same?”
