BAE Systems staff told to hide lanyards and lie where they work amid security fears from pro-Palestine protesters

Staff at the country’s largest defence firm have been told to hide their lanyards and lie about where they work after being targeted by radical pro-Palestine protesters.

BAE Systems sites have faced protests since the outbreak of the Israel-Gaza war in October 2023 with Palestine protesters blocking staff from entering factories in Glasgow, Lancashire and Monmouthshire.

Staff have been warned to conceal their jobs due to security fears.

A BAE Systems worker told MailOnline: ‘We are told to be vigilant at work, to watch out for people following us. We have a strict rule not to wear our work lanyard outside of the office for our own protection.

‘We are encouraged to say we don’t work in defence and to be careful, to make sure you know who you are speaking to if you say it.’

Last February more than 100 pro-Palestine demonstrators blocked entrances to the company’s ship building site in Govan, Glasgow. They held banners saying ‘Stop Arming Israel’ and chanted ‘from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free’.

It followed a protest in south London, where hundreds of demonstrators marched to the company’s office in Southwark.

More than 100 pro-Palestine demonstrators blocked entrances to the BAE Systems site in Govan, Glasgow last February

Protesters have targeted BAE Systems sites, including in Chatham, Rochester, since the outbreak of the Israel-Gaza war in October 2023

Although pro-Palestinian protesters have blocked BAE Systems staff from entering factories in Glasgow, Lancashire and Monmouthshire, the company does not directly supply weapons to Israel

In May, protesters blockaded a BAE Systems factory in Samlesbury, Lancashire. Another protest at the site, on the anniversary of Hamas’s October 7 atttacks, saw two people arrested. 

In November, Palestine protesters blocked an entrance to BAE Systems munitions plant in Glascoed, Monmouthshire. They held banners saying ‘stop arming genocide’ and ‘UK weapons kill’.

Meanwhile, pro-Palestine protesters have harassed workers as young as 16 out of the defence industry as ongoing staff shortages could force companies to risky overseas locations, an industry chief has warned.

Kevin Craven, chief executive of the ADS group, which represents UK aerospace, defence and security companies, told MailOnline: ‘We had a reception and seven apprentices had to make their way through a crowd of 200 protesters shouting baby killers to people aged 16 to 17. And now two of them have left the industry.’

‘If it was intimidating to me, imagine what it was like for them.’

It comes as around 20 defence companies have been forced to avoid university events because of security fears, ‘effectively excluding a very large proportion of the defence industry’ from campuses, according to Craven.

While defence companies are aiming to bolster their workforce, there is overwhelming antipathy towards the industry from younger people, he added.

There have been 10,000 unfilled vacancies in the industry each year for the past three years out of a workforce of 164,000, he said, with ‘desperate’ shortages of welders, systems engineers and skilled machinists, which could impact warship production.

‘Offshoring some production to places where they don’t have shortages might be an ultimate answer,’ Craven said.

‘It would be a shame since British jobs could disappear. From a strategic point of view you want your defence industry onshore because you are the only country you can rely on.’

Last February, BAE Systems were forced to move a careers forum with engineering students from the University of Cardiff online following student protests.

Exams at the University of Manchester were disrupted after protesters ‘unlawfully barricaded’ a building as they called on the university to end its partnership with the defence company.

In October, a talk from BAE Systems at Durham University was disrupted by a protester who accused the company of manufacturing weapons to ‘murder children’.

Protesters formed a blockade outside a BAE Systems site in Samlesbury, Lancashire, in May 

Staff have been warned to conceal their jobs due to security fears after a wave of protests outside BAE Systems factories 

Protesters form a blockade outside weapons manufacturer BAE Systems in Glasgow

Meanwhile, a Ministry of Defence list highlighting where defence companies had events booked but cancelled includes universities in Edinburgh, Liverpool, Manchester, Sheffield, Cardiff and Warwick, according to The Times.

‘The consequence is that it is reducing the pool of available graduates for the industry,’ Craven added.

‘There is one perspective being put out and it’s hard to counter, particularly as an individual company speaking out against these things has resulted in protests at the front door of their headquarters and physical damage costing hundreds of thousands of pounds.’

Although pro-Palestinian protesters have blocked BAE Systems staff from entering factories in Glasgow, Lancashire and Monmouthshire, the company does not directly supply weapons to Israel.

However, it does produce parts for F-35 fighter jets, which the US has sold on to Israel.

‘The part the British defence industry plays in that conflict is so tiny as to be meaningless,’ said Craven.

‘But you wouldn’t think so in terms of the size and shape of the protests.

‘People get their information from their own chosen sources and clearly there is some misinformation amongst that.’

A BAE Systems spokesperson, said: ‘We respect everyone’s right to protest peacefully.’

They added they continue to work with ‘academic institutions to promote thousands of promote thousands of opportunities’ each year.

***
Read more at DailyMail.co.uk