HUNDREDS of protesters halted production today at the Edinburgh factory of Leonardo, one of the world’s biggest arms companies.

A coalition of groups demanding the cessation of arms sales to Israel rallied at the plant in the Scottish capital’s Crew Road North at 5am, forming a picket line preventing deliveries and workers from entering the site, which manufactures components of the F-35 fighter jets and attack helicopters used to devastating effect on the Palestinian people.

Just three weeks earlier, similar numbers had blockaded the Thales works in Govan, but police brutality, four hospitalisations and 14 arrests that day have not dented campaigners’ determination to answer Palestinian trade unionists’ appeals for solidarity.

One protester, Jack, said today: “No-one can pretend not to know the extent of Israel’s war crimes.

“It is therefore utterly unconscionable that our government continues to hand over arms to Israel.

“It has always been morally repugnant, but it is now also clear that these arms sales mean the UK government is in breach of its own obligations under international law.

“That is why we’re here today: because we will not allow weapons built on our doorstep to be used to massacre Palestinians.”

Fellow protester Rosemary, a teacher from Edinburgh, said: “I couldn’t stand by any more and watch Israel commit a genocide with weapons made in our own city.

“As people who live in Scotland, whose friends and neighbours work at this factory, we have a responsibility to put pressure on arms manufacturers to comply with international law.

“Every day that I see Scottish children playing happily in Edinburgh, I think of the thousands of children in Gaza who will never get to.

“It isn’t a far-away problem. It’s right here, in our city, under the auspices of our own government.”

Leonardo UK, whose parent company is partly owned by the Italian state, was contacted for comment.