PALESTINE supporters have shut down a UK arms factory supplying weapons to Israel following its ongoing attacks on the people of Gaza.

Activists from Palestine Action blockaded both entrances at Lockheed Martin’s Ampthill factory in Bedford today and chained themselves to vehicles blockading the site.

The blockade was backed by a demonstration and the factory was sprayed with red paint symbolising the blood of Palestinians shed during Israel’s slaughter in Gaza and more killings in the Palestinian West Bank.

Palestine Action, which is mounting a long-running campaign of direct action against companies in the UK which supply weapons to Israel, said the factory produces Lockheed Martin fighter bombers, which have killed almost 15,000 people in Gaza. 

“The vast majority of Palestinians slaughtered in Gaza have been murdered by air strikes — air strikes largely committed by Lockheed Martin’s F-16 class of fighter jets, the ‘workhorse’ of the current onslaught,” a Palestine Action statement said.

“The cruelty of the Israeli occupation cannot be divorced from the arms companies that enable its violence — Lockheed Martin not least of all.

“By taking action to interrupt the flow of these aircraft and weapons to Israel, this intervention is specifically aimed to preserve life and protect property in Gaza.

“Palestine Action will react where the government has failed to prevent such abhorrent activities from taking place in Britain.”

A spokesperson for Lockheed Martin said: "We respect the right to protest which is conducted within the laws of the land.

"Bedfordshire police are handling the situation and it would be inappropriate for us to make any further comment at this time."