ALL but one of the remaining Filton 24 activist detainees were granted bail yesterday, ahead of trials related a break-in at a UK centre for Israel-based defence firm Elbit Systems.

Eighteen defendants, originally arrested as part of Palestine Action prior to its proscription, were granted conditional bail by Mr Justice Johnson. They, along with six others, are facing a series of linked trials.

The 24 defendants had on been in custody on charges of criminal damage and violent disorder over the raid on the Elbit Systems site near Bristol on August 6 2024.

They included three women and one man who had previously held hunger strikes in prison.

The defendants had appeared at the Old Bailey by video links from Peterborough, Belmarsh, Lewes, Newcastle, Eastwood Park and Chelmsford prisons.

As the senior judge gave his bail decisions one by one, there were tears from some defendants and expressions of glee by others, who have already spent many months on remand.

Outside the Old Bailey, protesters could be heard shouting as the bail hearings were going on inside.

Previously, five out of six other defendants facing a retrial on criminal damage and violence charges had been granted bail.

Charlotte Head, 29, Samuel Corner, 23, Leona Kamio, 30, Fatema Rajwani, 21, Zoe Rogers, 22, and Jordan Devlin, 31, were cleared of aggravated burglary on February 4 following a trial at Woolwich Crown Court.

Rajwani, Rogers, and Devlin were also acquitted of violent disorder.

All but Mr Corner have now been granted conditional bail.

Following the first trial, the prosecution dropped aggravated burglary charges against all the remaining defendants.

The next trial is due to start at Woolwich Crown Court on April 9.

Separately, a landmark six-day right to protest trial of Palestine movement leaders will begin on Monday, with a large demonstration outside Westminster magistrates’ court in London.

Palestine Solidarity Campaign director Ben Jamal and Stop the War Coalition vice-chairman Chris Nineham face charges arising from a peaceful protest on January 18 2025 against Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

The protest will gather outside the court at 9am in solidarity with Mr Jamal and Mr Nineham, to demand the charges against them are dropped.

Speakers are due to include MPs Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell, musician Brian Eno, activist actors Khalid Abdalla and Juliet Stevenson, PCS general secretary Fran Heathcote and TSSA general secretary Maryam Eslamdoust.