A pro-Gaza activist “fractured a policewoman’s spine in a sledgehammer ambush” while allegedly supporting Palestine Action, a court has heard.
Samuel Corner, 23, is alleged to have been among a group of Palestine Action protesters who broke into Elbit Systems UK, an Israeli-linked military firm, in Bristol.
The break-in occurred on August 5 last year, and involved activists armed with fireworks, an axe and a paintball gun.
Dressed in red and black jumpsuits, they stormed the compound after crashing through the gate in an old prison van.
The so-called “black team” overwhelmed a security guard who tried to fight them off with his umbrella, while the red team rammed through the barrier, Woolwich Crown Court heard.
Once on site, the protesters wreaked havoc, using sledgehammers to cause damage and attack security guards and police officers, it is claimed.
Police Sergeant Kate Evans suffered back injuries when Mr Corner allegedly attacked her with a sledgehammer.
He denies aggravated burglary, criminal damage and violent disorder alongside Charlotte Head, 29, Leona Kamio, 30, Fateema Rajwani, 21, Zoe Rogers, 22 and Jordan Devlin, 31.
Mr Corner also denies causing grievous bodily harm with intent to PS Evans.
Palestine Action protesters broke into Elbit Systems UK, an Israeli-linked international military technology company, in Bristol
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Prosecutor Deanna Heer KC told the court the attack was “meticulously organised”.
She said: “The premises had been targeted in advance, willing participants had been identified and a step-by-step plan of action devised and agreed upon.
“There is no doubt that these sledgehammers were intended to be used to damage property, but they were also carried as weapons to be used, if necessary, to threaten and damage people.”
She said that Mr Corner went “so far as to strike a female officer across the back with his sledgehammer while she was on the floor, facing away from him”.
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Palestine Action has targeted other companies before for their supposed ties to Israel
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The court was told that security guards were also injured in the melee which saw PS Evans taken to Southmead Hospital by ambulance where it was discovered she had a fracture to her lumber spine.
Ms Heer said PS Evans’s injury left her unable to return to work for three months, and “since then she has suffered ongoing pain to her lower back, right hip and leg and has been confined to restricted duties”.
Yesterday, Mr Justice Johnson urged the jury to put aside their views on the war in Gaza.
He said: “Many people have strong views about events in the Middle East, some of you might feel that Israel is entitled to do what it has done in Gaza in order to defend itself against Hamas.
“Others of you may feel that Israel has acted unlawfully, even that it has committed acts of genocide.
“Everyone is, of course, fully entitled to their views but you as the jury in this case must put any views you have on those matters entirely to one side, they are completely irrelevant to your consideration of the case.
“Your job is to listen to the evidence and to decide what the evidence shows on those matters you will need to decide.”
Palestine Action was designated a proscribed terror organisation this summer
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The now-proscribed terror group’s mission statement said: “Shut Elbit down. This is our primary objective as Palestine Action. We can do that by sticking together and ensuring it’s destruction with our brains and muscle.”
However, Ms Heer told the court the goal of the attack was to “close the site for a significant period of time by targeting key systems and capital to the site operations, occupy the site for as long as possible to prolong the destruction”.
The prosecutor added: “The evidence in this case demonstrates that the attack upon the Elbit factory that night was planned in advance.
“The purpose was to carry out as much damage as possible, and the role of these defendants to smash up as much property as possible and to keep smashing until they were forces to stop.
“If that involved threatening the security guards or using force against them, or injuring them with those sledgehammers, then so be it – that is what they intended to do.”
The trial continues.
