AEROLINK PROTEST 2

Pictures below and story
PROTEST to oppose the arms trade and highlight the role of wales in war crimes in gaza and the companies that make money from killing people
http://caatcardiff.blogspot.com/ Go there for pictures
RED Choir/Côr Cochion http://members.tripod.com/cor.cochion/
out in good voice along with CAAT and the Green Party, CND and Stop the War

There was a peaceful protest and some folk picketed the gate with leaflets as the police wouldn't let us give any out near the hotel entrance where we set up our banners just after 8 this morning. A group of anarchists arrived and were stopped going into the hotel by a dozen or more burly police officers who later described the group as trying to 'STORM' the building!
Not much chance with such a big police presence to defend those people who kill people for money and profit from war!

A green party spokes person said "arms dealers are not welcome in Wales making money by killing people. It is shocking that Ty Hafan the well-known Welsh charity which runs a hospice for dying children was there! Why they would take blood money after what happened to the children of GAZA is beyond belief!"

Magellan Aerospace, with facilities in Wrexham, manufactures the CRV7 rocket weapon system (RWS), General Electric (GE) has been supplying the Israeli army since 1950 and, given its gargantuan profits, wars in he Middle East are good for business. One of GE’s success stories is the F110 jet engine, used to power the F-16.
Gardner Aerospace, part of the Carlyle Group, helps build war planes, including the C-130 Hercules, the military transport plane used by the Israeli airforce operating from its Nevatim Airbase.
Thales is a specialist manufacturer of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or drones, which are used extensively by the Israeli airforce to locate targets prior to bombardment. While the Hermes 450, made by Israeli company Elbit and tested at ParcAberporth in West Wales, remains Israel’s UAV of choice

Ray Davies injured in GAZA demo

100,000 people from all over Britain joined today's march in London, to protest at the Israeli Embassy against the continuing relentless attacks on Gaza's civilian population. Ray Davies, 79 year old Vice Chair of CND Cymru, sustained head injuries, concussion and cuts when he was trapped with hundreds of others against the Embassy gates by Metropolitan Police.

The march had gone peacefully until it reached the Embassy. Many shoes were thrown over the fence in a symbolic gesture of defiance, but the police claimed that the shoes were aimed at them , and began to lash out at the crowd. Three rows of police, in full riot gear and with heavy shields penned a section of the protesters in an alleyway beside the Israeli Embassy. Ray tried to negotiate between the protesters and the police; he explained that the police had not been the target of the shoes, and asked to be allowed to pass through in order to deliver a letter to the ambassador calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.

In response, the special riot police shouted obscenities at Ray, and told him to "get back with the rest of the scum".

Scuffles broke out, and the heavy steel barriers around the Embassy were pushed over. Ray, at the front of the march, was unable to escape, and two policemen hit him on the head with truncheons, cut him on the face with the sharp edge of the heavy riot shields, and proceeded to kick him to the ground, bleeding with cuts on his nose and hands. He suffered concussion for a while, and medics pleaded to take him to hospital ; but when he regained consciousness he wanted to get home on the bus rather than spend the night in a London casualty unit.

He was treated at the University Hospital of Wales, and discharged.
Ray said,
"I have experienced the war zones in the Occupied Territories; I have been shot at ,teargassed and beaten by the Israeli Defence Force; but I never expected such abuse and brutal treatment in Britain from our own police force."

The violent reaction to today's march was in complete contrast to the peaceful protests held throughout the past weeks in Wales. There have been two vigils in memory of the victims of Israel's bombing of Gaza; a fundraising concert with Frankie Armstrong, which raised £1200 for Middle East Childrens Alliance, and the enormously successful fundraising dinner at City Hall for the Islamic Relief Fund; and a march and rally on Friday, one of the biggest Cardiff has seen in many years, calling for a ceasefire in Gaza

Ray Davies
Wendy Lewis