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Press release 16th October from the Swedish peace group Ofog

20 Carl Gustaf antitank launchers and other armaments were damaged Thursday as Swedish peace activists broke into plants belonging to BAE Systems and Saab in Sweden. In two simultaneous non-violent actions, four activists hammered on arms bound for export to among others the US, UK and India.

Two activists entered the Saab Bofors Dynamics production unit in Eskilstuna, near Stockholm, Sweden, at 00.30 am on Thursday morning. They hammered and scratched 20 Carl Gustaf launchers, one of the most widespread weapons of the world, before they alerted police of their presence inside the supposedly high-security establishment.

Simultaneously, two other activists entered the BAE Systems plant in Karlskoga, Sweden, in the Western part of the Nordic country. At 2.36 am, they forced open a door to an assembly building and proceeded to damage parts for the artillery systems Howitzer 77 and Archer, used in the occupation of Iraq.

"When your government supports an illegal war and sells arms to dictatorships, it's time for ordinary citizens like us to take action," said Annika Spalde, a deacon in the Swedish church and the fifth member of the group. On Thursday noon she held a press conference in Karlskoga and was also arrested upon attempting to enter arms manufacturing facilities there which previously belonged to famous Swedish Bofors.

The action is the first disarmament campain in the 21st century in Sweden. When the American led invasion of Iraq started Swedish arms export increased by 88 percent and has continued to rise. The Swedish government violates it's own policy of peace and neutrality by supplying war waging countries with arms.

The activists left behind holes in the security fence with welcoming signs "The door is opened- you're free to start disarming."
The Swedish peace group Ofog works with non violent direct action against militarism.


Swedes disarm US-bound weapons | Ofog

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Amazing. I really don't know what else to say. That's a maneuver that takes a level of boldness that, quite frankly, I don't think I could muster. Kudos for believing in their cause, though I'm not a big fan of destruction of property, be it war machines or otherwise. It's the peoples money somewhere, here I guess.

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well call me ignorant. lulu i had no idea whatsoever that saab was a munitions manufacturer.

i think we are going to see more and more of this stuff globally. people are just plain sick and tired of war, poverty, and the unknown. this planet is being run by madmen i tell you.

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Ships are safe in the harbor, but that is not what ships were meant for.

Christian peacemakers given jail sentence in Sweden | Ekklesia

A Swedish court has sentenced two members of Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT), to four months in prison.

It comes after they broke into a Swedish factory last Autumn and disarmed lethal weapons.

Martin Smedjeback and Anna Andersson entered the Saab Bofors arms factory in Eskilstuna, Sweden on 16 October 2008, and disabled fourteen Carl Gustaf bazookas.

During the trial, the judge allowed Andersson and Smedjeback to explain their actions, and they said they had committed the break-in to uphold the Swedish government's ban on supplying arms to warring states.

The judge dismissed Saab's claim for some 120,000 Euros in damages.

Smedjeback, a nonviolence trainer since 2001, completed CPT training in 2007. His Chicago-based training included a ‘public witness’ action at depleted uranium weapons maker, Alliant Tech, in Minnesota.

"Saab Bofors Dynamics delivers grenade launchers to the US military, which uses them in Iraq among other places. I am ready to be imprisoned if necessary to hinder arms exports that cause so much suffering and death," said Smedjeback, 35.

Web developer Anna Andersson, 27, added: "It is my duty to intervene due to the gross criminal damage and death that Saab causes around the world. Others who get in the way of Swedish weaponry, for example in Iraq and Afghanistan, pay a substantially higher price."

A public gathering following the verdict on the Eskilstuna main square featured speeches from representatives of Sweden's largest peace and civil society movements. The chairperson of the Christian Social Democratic movement emphasized the importance of popular resistance against weapons exports.

"I commend with all my heart the bravery of Swedish citizens who oppose the weapons export of their government," wrote Daniel Berrigan, poet and one of the Ploughshares Movement’s founders, who joined about a thousand international and Swedish supporters expressing support on www.avrusta.se and Facebook.

Smedjeback was also sentenced to pay restitution of 15,500 Euros for jumping over a fence at the Aimpoint red dot sights facility in Malmö, Sweden, in November 2008.

Andersson's and Smedjeback's work is part of the ongoing Avrusta campaign, launched by the Swedish antimilitarist network Ofog ("Mischief") in September 2008.

Two other activists damaged parts of nine Howitzer FH77B towed artillery guns last October. Sentences for Avrusta actions to stop arms exports now total fourteen months of prison and 37,500 Euros in damages.

CPT will hold its first training for Europeans in the UK this Autumn.

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