British Palestine Solidarity Movement Hails 'Monumental Victory' as Jury Fails To Convict Activists

By Ana Vračar – Feb 5, 2026

Six Palestine Action activists were acquitted or not convicted in the first Filton 24 trial, a result described as a “monumental victory” for the movement.

In a major victory for the Palestine solidarity movement, six Palestine Action activists who faced charges over a break-in at an Elbit Systems plant in Filton, near Bristol, were either acquitted or not convicted of all offenses on February 4. Campaigners, friends, and family members described the outcome as a “monumental victory,” saying it undermined attempts by Keir Starmer’s Labour government to depict direct action for Palestine as terrorism.

“Despite government efforts to prejudice this trial, citing allegations of violence to justify treating Palestine Action as ‘terrorists,’ as if they were already proved, the jury which heard the evidence has refused to find the defendants guilty of anything, not even criminal damage,” a spokesperson for Defend Our Juries said following the verdict. “It shows how out of step this government is with public opinion, which is revulsed by the Government’s and Elbit’s complicity in genocide.”

Ellie Kamio, Samuel Corner, Charlotte Head, Fatema Zainab Rajwani, Zoe Rogers, and Jordan Devlin are among a group of 24 activists charged in relation to the same 2024 action.

“There are still 18 more defendants imprisoned across the UK in connection with this case,” the Filton 24 Defence Committee emphasized after the ruling. All face charges including aggravated burglary, which carries a potential life sentence. “Now that the first six have been liberated of the most serious charge, aggravated burglary, and none were convicted of a single offense, it follows that the rest must immediately have this charge dropped against them, and be granted bail,” the Committee said.

One of the prosecution’s claims – that the activists entered the factory intending to physically injure people – stands fully rejected by the trial outcome. “Palestine Action never advocated causing harm to people and never caused unlawful violence to a person in over 400 actions,” Defend Our Juries noted. “Their aim was always to save lives by causing damage to companies like Elbit Systems whose made-in-Britain quadcopter drones have been killing innocent civilians in Gaza.”

UK Hunger Strike: Palestine Activists Near Death as State Stalls

The trial also revealed that the activists were subjected to excessive force during the event. While prosecutors claimed that the defendants were violent, testimony and footage presented in court suggested the opposite: Ellie Kamio was tasered during arrest, while Jordan Devlin was hit with a sledgehammer and placed in a chokehold by one of Elbit’s security guards.

The verdict certainly raises hopes for the outcome of related cases – with The Electronic Intifada reporting that other defendants in the Filton 24 case will now seek bail based on the trial’s result – yet an equally important implication concerns the status of the Palestine solidarity movement in Britain. As across much of Europe, activists in the United Kingdom have faced intensified repression and criminalization, with authorities claiming their actions pose a threat to public safety. The jury’s decision, however, suggests these claims have failed to take root.

“As the court heard, these are six young people of conscience and compassion,” said Clare Rogers, the mother of Zoe Rogers, after the verdict. “They took action against Israeli manufacturer Elbit Systems in Filton, Bristol, because they could not sit by and do nothing while their country armed Israel’s genocide.”

“They had tried everything else – marches, petitions, writing to MPs, encampments – and they could see that the government was not only breaking international law but was ignoring the will of its own people,” she added.

The outcome of the first Filton 24 trial adds to the boomerang effect faced by Starmer’s government in its efforts to suppress Palestine solidarity while remaining complicit in Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Since Palestine Action was proscribed in mid-2025, expressions of solidarity have grown, including mass, peaceful sign-holding protests. Additionally, some of the imprisoned activists launched what has been described as the largest hunger strike since the 1980s Irish prisoners’ strike, which led to a partial adoption of their demands and an unprecedented number of people signing up for direct action.

(Peoples Dispatch)