Six pro-Palestine activists accused of aggravated burglary at a factory run by an Israeli defence firm have been acquitted.
The jury at Woolwich Crown Court in London were unable to reach verdicts on charges of criminal damage.
Prosecutors said the six defendants, whose trial began in November, were members of the now-banned group Palestine Action, which organised the assault on the Elbit Systems UK facility in Bristol, southwest England, in August last year.
The six – Charlotte Head, 29, Samuel Corner, 23, Leona Kamio, 30, Fatema Zainab Rajwani, 21, Zoe Rogers, 22, and Jordan Devlin, 31 – all denied charges of aggravated burglary, violent disorder and criminal damage.
Rajwani, Rogers and Devlin were found not guilty of violent disorder by a jury, which could not reach verdicts on the same charge against Head, Corner and Kamio after more than 36-and-a-half hours of deliberation.
Corner had also denied causing grievous bodily harm with intent for hitting a female police sergeant with a sledgehammer. The jury was unable to reach a verdict on that count.
The six defendants hugged in the dock and waved to supporters in the public gallery, who cheered loudly after the judge had left the court.
Palestine Action claim Elbit supplies weapons to the Israeli military, which the firm strongly denies.
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