In a case that proves even direct action has a dress code, five Palestine Action activists are accused of deploying whips, hammers, and - yes - large kebab skewers to keep security guards at bay during a break-in at an Israel-linked arms factory. The trial at Woolwich crown court heard that the group allegedly split into a "black team" in black jumpsuits and a "red team" in red jumpsuits, because nothing says "serious political statement" like color-coordinated felonies.

Qesser Zuhrah, 21, Zahra Farooque, 26, Kamran Ahmed, 29, Heba Muraisi, 31, and Liam Mullany, 34, deny charges of criminal damage and violent disorder over the raid at the Elbit Systems factory in Filton, near Bristol, in the early hours of 6 August 2024. Prosecutors claim the black team's job was to overwhelm security guards so the red team could smash up equipment, including drones. The alleged plan, discovered by police, stated: "Shut Elbit Down. This is our primary objective as Palestine Action. We can do that by sticking together and ensuring its destruction with our brains and muscle." Because nothing says "brains" like a kebab skewer.

Prosecutor Deanna Heer KC told the jury that security guard Nigel Shaw, who had struck a black team member across the back of his legs with an umbrella, suffered a 4cm laceration to his head after being attacked. "The role of the black team was to overwhelm the security guards so that the red team could break into the factory," Heer said. "They did so by threatening, intimidating and, if necessary, assaulting the guards, by throwing fireworks at them and brandishing weapons, such as whips and hammers and large kebab skewers." When one black team member was detained, others allegedly attacked the guard until he released their colleague, leaving him with the head wound.

The break-in was carefully planned, the court heard. A prison van, driven by a red team member, crashed through the first perimeter fence at about 3.30am. The black team followed on foot, shouting slogans including "Free Palestine," as the van went through a second fence at the site of the firm, whose parent company is based in Israel. Heer said footage showed the black team used or threatened violence, throwing fireworks or smoke grenades, cracking whips, and brandishing skewers to intimidate guards. The red team's goal was to destroy "as much property as possible" before police arrived, using fire extinguishers filled with red paint to spray walls and floors, crowbars and sledgehammers to smash computer equipment and drones, and also damaging a disabled toilet - because nothing says "revolution" like vandalizing accessibility infrastructure.

The plan described the black team, whose faces were covered, as "coverts" because the intention was "to get away without being caught," unlike the red team, labeled "overts." The trial continues.