2024-06-05 Stop L3 Harris protest in Hove
43 images Created 17 Jun 2024
Hove, UK. 5th June, 2024. Stop L3Harris campaigners protest outside Hove Town Hall with an art installation comprising ribbons bearing the names of hundreds of children killed in Gaza since 7th October on the occasion of a Brighton and Hove City Council Planning Committee meeting to consider the permanent retention of a temporary extension to a building owned by arms manufacturer L3Harris at Home Farm Business Centre.
Temporary planning permission granted to L3Harris in 2018 had expired in September 2023, since when a public consultation had received over 600 objections and only one letter in support.
Speakers at the protest rally included Green Party candidate for Brighton Pavilion Sian Berry, Stop L3Harris campaigners and other local groups.
All celebrated when news filtered through that Brighton & Hove City councillors had unanimously rejected L3Harris's application for permanent planning permission, stating that the benefits of granting permission would be outweighed by the “impact on community cohesion” and that it might cause discrimination, harassment and victimisation between people of different races or religions. A Stop L3 Harris campaigner had shared statements from a Palestinian and a Jewish member of the local community with family members in Gaza during the meeting. L3Harris did not attend the meeting.
L3Harris is the 12th-largest arms manufacturer in the world and describes itself as the world's largest manufacturer of precision weapons. Campaigners against the arms trade assert that it has profited from Israel’s assault on Palestinians in Gaza - during which at least 37,202 Palestinians have been killed and 84,932 injured since 7th October (Palestinian Health Ministry) - by supplying Israel with bomb release mechanisms for its F-35 and F-15 fighter jets.
Temporary planning permission granted to L3Harris in 2018 had expired in September 2023, since when a public consultation had received over 600 objections and only one letter in support.
Speakers at the protest rally included Green Party candidate for Brighton Pavilion Sian Berry, Stop L3Harris campaigners and other local groups.
All celebrated when news filtered through that Brighton & Hove City councillors had unanimously rejected L3Harris's application for permanent planning permission, stating that the benefits of granting permission would be outweighed by the “impact on community cohesion” and that it might cause discrimination, harassment and victimisation between people of different races or religions. A Stop L3 Harris campaigner had shared statements from a Palestinian and a Jewish member of the local community with family members in Gaza during the meeting. L3Harris did not attend the meeting.
L3Harris is the 12th-largest arms manufacturer in the world and describes itself as the world's largest manufacturer of precision weapons. Campaigners against the arms trade assert that it has profited from Israel’s assault on Palestinians in Gaza - during which at least 37,202 Palestinians have been killed and 84,932 injured since 7th October (Palestinian Health Ministry) - by supplying Israel with bomb release mechanisms for its F-35 and F-15 fighter jets.
