Peaceful pro-Palestine protest at Powys Teledyne factory

Around 20 local people marched to drummers and held banners, placards and Palestinian flags as they made their way to Teledyne Labtech Ltd in Presteigne around lunchtime on March 6.

Around 7.30am on December 9, 2022, the same factory, located on Presteigne’s Broadaxe Business Park, was broken into by four members of Palestine Action. Wearing balaclavas and red suits, they smashed windows, set off smoke grenades and doused the outside of the building in red paint.

They also took to the roof and unfurled a ‘Palestine Action banner’, in an incident lasting several hours.

Four arrests were made, with the stunt resulting in over £300,000 of damage, while the company itself spent another £900,000 in securing the facility, which closed for around three weeks following the attack.

READ MORE: Powys factory protestors jailed for £320k damage

Angie Zelter, one of the Radnor Palestine Links protesters outside the factory on Wednesday, handed a letter to the guards at the locked main gate.

“We wrote in December asking for a meeting to discuss our concerns and find out if it is true that components for Israeli weapons are really being made inside," she said.

“But having received no answer we are now at the gates asking to meet with the manager in an open and respectful manner. We are willing to meet at a place and time they decide.”

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On December 9, 2022, the break-in at Teledyne led to John Beddoes School being locked down, while Joe Deakins Road was shut.

Local residents were left unimpressed, with comments describing the actions as "ridiculous" and "pathetic".

Palestine Action protestors daubed the Teledyne Labtech Ltd factory in Presteigne in red paint on December 9, 2022. Pics by Vladimir Morozov.

Each of the four protesters – two of whom are Powys residents – were jailed for their actions.

Morwenna Grey, from Machynlleth, Susan Bagshaw, of Commins Coch, near Machynlleth, and Tristan Dixon, from Huddersfield, were jailed for 23 months at Mold Crown Court last June after admitting one charge of conspiracy to commit criminal damage.

Ruth Hogg, from Aberystwyth, denied the offence but was found guilty at trial and jailed for 27 months.

The damage was said to be “extensive”. In a statement read out to the court, the manager of the plant said it was close to being a “catastrophically serious incident”.

Paint had been driven into the mechanisms of hot running equipment and flares had been lit near acid and alkaline baths. In a chemical processing area, alkaline bath covers had been smashed, causing fumes to leak from them. Paint had also been poured in the baths.

Palestine Action protestors at Teledyne Labtech Ltd in Presteigne. Pics by Vladimir Morozov.

The court heard the group believed that circuit boards (PCBs) manufactured at the factory were being sold to third parties who used them to manufacture missiles and other military hardware.

One witness for Teledyne told the jury that while some of its products made at the site could have had military use, it was only about 2 per cent of what they did.

The PCBs designed at the factory are commonly used in MRI scanners in hospitals, radars in planes and satellite antennas.