Smethwick, UK: activists to hold Palestine protest outside JCB factory

Campaigners with placards will assemble outside the building in Halfords Park industrial estate to hand out ‘JCB Homewrecker’ leaflets

Human rights activists will hold a protest outside a JCB factory in Smethwick in the West Midlands on 15 May (12:00 pm) to highlight the company’s involvement in Israel’s demolition of Palestinian homes in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. 

The protest, being held on Nakba Day, will see members of Amnesty International groups from Mid-Warwickshire, Bournville and Wolverhampton - alongside activists from the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions and other groups - assembling outside the JCB plant in the Halfords Park industrial estate, with campaigners brandishing placards saying “JCB: Your machines destroy Palestinian homes” and handing out striking orange-and-black “JCB Homewrecker” leaflets (images available). 

“The protest is being held to highlight JCB’s failure to prevent the repeated use of their machines in serious violations of international humanitarian law - possibly amounting to war crimes - by Israeli forces in the Palestinian Territories.

Diggers manufactured by JCB have been used by the Israeli authorities to unlawfully demolish Palestinian homes in the region, as well as in the construction of a vast network of illegal Israeli settlements which have caused the displacement of thousands of Palestinians from their homes, land and livelihoods. Amnesty has repeatedly warned that JCB’s failure to take appropriate steps to prevent its equipment being used in this way has put the company in breach of its responsibilities under international human rights standards applicable to business. 

Last year, Amnesty published a major report showing how the Israeli authorities’ treatment of the Palestinian people amounts to the international crime of apartheid, with massive seizures of Palestinian land and property, unlawful killings, the forcible transfer of Palestinian people from their land, drastic movement restrictions, and the denial of nationality and citizenship to Palestinians in Israel.

Astrid Laich, Secretary of the Bournville Amnesty group, said: 

“JCB is turning a blind eye to how its diggers are being used by Israeli forces to destroy Palestinian homes while paving the way for further illegal Israeli settlements. 

“JCB’s distinctive yellow diggers have become an instantly recognisable symbol of Israel’s crushing apartheid against the Palestinians.”    

Details of protest

Who: members Mid-Warwickshire, Bournville and Wolverhampton Amnesty groups, and activists from the Palestine Solidarity Campaign and the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions

What: campaigners holding striking orange-and-black ‘JCB Homewrecker’ placards 

 

Where: Gunn JCB Ltd, Unit A Halfords Park, Smethwick, West Midlands B66 1EL

When: Monday 15 May 2023, at 12:00 pm