Several hundred people formed a picket outside the gates of Bisalloy Steel in Wollongong on May 10 to protest its links with the Israeli military.
There was no attempt by workers to leave or enter the site during the four-hour picket, which began at 6am. Police were present, but made no arrests.
Bisalloy supplies specialised steel for Armoured Personnel Carriers and Light Armoured Vehicles used by the Israeli military.
It has contracts with Israeli war companies Rafael and Plasan Re’em. It boasts on its website that “Bisalloy is increasingly supplying BISALLOY® Armour steel to police, military forces, government and civilian applications worldwide”.
Wollongong Friends of Palestine, the protest organisers, said: “This is not the first, nor the last, action that will take place here.
“The Illawarra community will continue to target Bisalloy until they cease supplying materials for the production of weapons that are being used in the genocide against Palestinian people.”
Palestinian social worker and local resident Safaa Rayan told the crowd: “As a mother who could have been in Gaza, and as a resident of the Illawarra, knowing that a place like Bisalloy is down the road … feels like a personal attack as this company aids in the murder of my cousins and their children.”
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On April 5, four people were arrested after entering the facility and locking on to machinery, shutting down operations inside the factory.
In an earlier action on January 8, about 30 protesters held a sit-in in Bisalloy’s office. One local Jewish man was arrested and charged when police violently broke up the peaceful sit-in.
Pro-Palestinian students have also established an encampment at the University of Wollongong, joining encampments at universities around the world.
They are demanding the University of Wollongong cut ties with Bisalloy and end its involvement with the Defence Materials Technology Centre.
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