Carmel Agrexco and CargoFlora’s depots in Hayes, Middlesex were blockaded on Sunday 7th February by pro-Palestine activists. At Carmel the protestors used D-locks to lock themselves to harris fencing panels, while those at CargoFlora locked themselves to the depot gates. The activists aimed to disrupt the distribution of illegal Israeli settlement produce from Carmel Agrexco itself as well as from partner company CargoFlora, which has served as an Agrexco depot during previous blockades.
While both blockades began at 6am the first to fall was at CargoFlora, where the Metropolitan police encouraged allowed CargoFlora workers to violently attack those locked-on, and facilitated the attack by repelling blocking the support teams access to the scene. One protestor was treated for whiplash in a waiting ambulance after the assault.
The blockade of Carmel Agrexco lasted a further 3 hours, when a specialist police cutting team arrived and removed the D-locks of the activists blockading the main gates. There were no arrests outside either company.
Carmel Agrexco is a partly Israeli state-owned company and is the largest exporter of agricultural produce from Israeli settlements in the West Bank. CargoFlora is a British company which has been handling Agrexco’s imports and provides freight services for Israeli flowers which are produced in West Bank colonies.
For more info on Cargoflora see here
This article was adapted from an article that appeared on London Indymedia on 7th February 2010