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  • 15/05/2024
Police and protesters clash at Thales Glasgow

GLASGOW. Thales Govan.

Police and pro-Palestinian protesters have clashed after a demonstration blocked the entrance to a military electronics factory in Glasgow.

Dozens of protesters gathered outside French company Thales’ site on Linthouse Road in Govan from 5am on Wednesday.

The demonstrators are demanding an immediate ceasefire and an end to the war in Gaza.

Police said a number of arrests had been made.

It comes at a time of mounting concern over the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.

The protest marks the 76th anniversary of the Nakba, Arabic for “catastrophe”, when 700,000 Palestinians fled or were driven out of what is now Israel before and during the war surrounding its creation in 1948.

More than twice that number have been displaced within Gaza since the start of the latest war, which was triggered by Hamas’ October 7 attack into Israel.

UN agencies say 550,000 people, nearly a quarter of Gaza’s 2.3 million people, have been newly displaced in just the last week, as Israeli forces have pushed into the southern city of Rafah and re-invaded parts of northern Gaza.

A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “Around 5.05am on Wednesday, May 15, 2024 police were called to a report of a demonstration within the grounds of a business premises on Linthouse Road, Govan, Glasgow.

“Officers are in attendance and a number of arrests have been made.”

Thales employs over 750 people across two main sites in Glasgow and Rosyth and said it invested over £140m in 2023 to the Scottish economy.

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Transcript
00:00 [Music]
00:06 I'm one of a group of local residents from Glasgow and nearby,
00:21 and we want to stop the genocide in Gaza and stand in solidarity with the people of Palestine.
00:26 We come from many backgrounds and some of us are full-time carers.
00:30 Around 100 people attended the pickets today.
00:33 The pickets started at 5am and finished around lunchtime when police intervened and arrested some of the protesters.
00:39 We came here today to shut down the site and ensure no work is done here today,
00:43 and this is because Talez, the company here, is directly involved in producing the Watchkeeper drone,
00:48 which is a drone that's developed with Israeli arms company Elbit Systems
00:53 and is used to kill Palestinian men, women and children.
00:57 Through this contract with Elbit, Talez profits from Israel's genocidal campaign in Palestine.
01:03 During a court case in 2014, Talez admitted that the parts manufactured on this site were sold to the Israeli occupying forces
01:11 and battle-tested on Palestinians.
01:14 So what happened today was the police broke up one of the pickets and made arrests.
01:19 We think the police should be there to maintain public order, but what they did today was incite fear and panic
01:24 and physically hurt people without provocation.
01:27 What we went through today, while upsetting and really unnecessary,
01:31 is nothing compared to what people in Gaza have been facing every day for over seven months now.
01:36 Just horrendous, unimaginable, sadistic violence and killing,
01:40 and also the unquantifiable suffering of Palestinians under occupation for 75 years.
01:45 [Applause]
01:50 [Music]
01:56 [MUSIC]

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