CAMPAIGNERS who have targeted County Hall in Taunton over Somerset Council’s ownership of premises used by weapons supplier Elbit UK are now carrying out “out-and-out yobbery”, according to Somerset MP.

Palestine Action has targeted the building, home of Somerset Council, as it calls for the authority to evict the firm from property it owns in Bristol.

On April 4, four people were arrested after paint was thrown over the landmark building, with another incident of graffiti reported to police in the weeks before.

The council has previously confirmed it is looking in to ways of ending the tenancy agreement, and has voted to “explore ways to legally evict Elbit”.

However, Palestine Action says it will continue to protest the contract “until Elbit is evicted”.

And on April 18, the group struck again at County Hall, spraying the building with red paint, saying it was “symbolising their complicity in the Gaza genocide”.

Now, MP Ian Liddell-Grainger (Con, Bridgwater & West Somerset) has hit out at the protests, dubbing them “out-and-out yobbery”.

“Each time these incidents take place it is the council tax payers who have to shoulder the considerable cost of specialists being brought in to clean the buildings,” he said.

“Everyone has a right to express their views but there comes a point where those doing so have to consider the implications of what they are doing – and in this case repeatedly damaging a public building is doing nothing to advance their cause.

“This is not political protest; it is out-and-out yobbery. It is not winning them support; it is losing them what support they might have had because people are getting heartily sick of footing the bill for such puerile vandalism.

READ MORE: Four arrested after County Hall in Taunton daubed in red paint in Gaza protest

“The council has taken the point and is exploring what action it can take within legal constraints. Flinging even more paint at the council’s offices is not going to speed up that process.”

Palestine Action has carried out such attacks across the country, including previously in Somerset, with premises in Croydon, Oldham and Leicester.

It comes after concerns were raised over the UK’s role in supplying arms to Israel, as it continues to attack Gaza in response to the terror attacks of October 7 last year.

In the UK, campaigners have raised concerns over the role of UK-supplied weapons in the attacks – including in an incident which saw seven aid workers killed as they transported food aid in Gaza.

Among them were three British victims – including Street man, James Kirby.

The Government, which has refused to ban arms sales to Israel, has confirmed that “as at June 30, 2023”, it had granted a licence to export “military aero-engines to Elbit Systems Limited in Israel”.

MP Richard Burgon (Lab, Leeds East) said: “There are deep concerns that Elbit makes components for the drones that were used to kill three British aid workers in Gaza.”