PALESTINE ACTION activists occupied the entrance to Aviva’s Manchester office today in protest at the insurer’s ties to Israeli weapons manufacturer Elbit Systems.

Activists climbed on top of the revolving doors of the Observatory building and stuck Palestine flags and a banner reading “Aviva Palestina” on the wall.

Aviva provides mandatory employer liability insurance for UAV Engines, a drone engine factory in Staffordshire owned by Elbit.

The action follows two days of protests against Allianz Insurance, as activists target companies linked to Israel’s arms industry.

A Palestine Action spokesperson said: “Both Allianz and Aviva directly enable the production of Israeli weapons in Britain by providing Israeli weapons factories with the insurance they need to operate.

“Therefore, Palestine Action will continue to take direct action until they cease all ties with Elbit Systems, Israel’s biggest weapons producer.

“No longer will ordinary people allow companies on our doorsteps to profit from the manufacture of weapons which are ‘battle-tested’ on Palestinians.”

Meanwhile, activists arrested during similar protests are facing trial this week.

The Barclays Seven are due to appear at Leeds Crown Court tomorrow to face charges over a protest last June in which red paint was thrown at the bank’s office in the city, symbolising what activists say is its complicity in genocide through shareholdings in Elbit Systems.

A Palestine Action spokesperson said: “It is those facilitating Israel’s weapons trade who should be in the dock.

“Today, Gaza is being starved out and bombed using Elbit-produced weaponry, despite the ‘ceasefire’ supposedly agreed.

“And yet, rather than the war criminals, it is the Barclays Seven in court, accused of throwing paint at a genocide-complicit bank.”

Five other activists, who secured themselves to each other and a vehicle to block the manufacture of Israeli weaponry at the Instro Precision factory in Kent, will also face trial tomorrow.

The activists have pleaded not guilty to charges of locking on or being equipped for locking on, which are new offences under the Public Order Act 2023.

They will enter Medway magistrates’ court insisting that Elbit is guilty while “those resisting complicity in genocide are not.”