Protesters blocked entrances to Leonardo’s factory in Edinburgh on Tuesday morning in response to the defence company’s ties to Israel.
Masked individuals draped in Palestinian flags and keffiyehs were seen linking arms to make a human chain, with police officers present.
The protest is believed to have begun at 5am on Tuesday, with three Police Scotland vans arriving at around 11:15am. It is currently unknown whether any arrests have been made.
Ian MacDonald, of the Scottish Palestine Solidarity campaign, was present and said demonstrators were protesting Leonardo’s manufacturing of the F-35 fighter jet.
He said: “We’re here because Leonardo is here. This isn’t the first – there’s been many, many demonstrations here, highlighting particularly Leonardo’s involvement in making weapons that go to Israel.
“Like many weapons companies in Scotland and the UK and beyond, they know what [the weapons] are going to be used for.
“They know and they can see what Israel is doing with the weapons that are produced, particularly Leonardo is involved in manufacturing of the F-35.”
MacDonald added: “We’ve had blockades many times, we’ve had people locking themselves on here, just highlighting that this is a genocide. If you accept that what’s been happening in Palestine is a genocide, then you have to do everything you can to prevent it.
“Leonardo is clearly not doing that, our government is not doing that. So people try to take action themselves.”
A pamphlet by the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign, handed to The Edinburgh Reporter, states that “UK-based arms companies profit from the ‘extermination'”.
In its lists of demands for Scotland and the UK, the group states its demand for “an end to all UK arms sales to Israel”, to “build the BDS movement to isolate genocidal Israel”, and an end to “UK complicity—from arms companies to universities, from cultural festivals to politicians”.
Leonardo has been repeatedly targeted by protesters since October 2023. In January 2026, its Edinburgh factory was shut down by demonstrators holding placards opposing Leonardo’s F-35 fighter jet contract.
The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory found that Israel has committed genocide in the Gaza Strip.
Leonardo supplies the precision targeting system laser for the Lockheed Martin F-35 combat aircraft, which the latter then sells on to Israel.
While Israel is not a member of the programme, it became the first country to select the F-35 through the United States government’s Foreign Military Sales process in 2010.
A United Nations report by the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories found in July 2025 that international weapons and technical support partnerships “enhanced Israeli capacity to perpetuate apartheid and, recently, to sustain its assault on Gaza”.
Leonardo is directly named as one of the companies aiding Israel benefit from “the largest-ever defence procurement programme” of the F-35.
In June 2025, the UK’s high court rejected a case brought by campaigners to stop the transfer of all British made parts of the fighter jet.
A Leonardo spokesperson said: “While we respect the right to peaceful protest, the safety and wellbeing of our employees and the local community is our absolute priority.
“Leonardo UK is subject to UK Government export controls and all of our exports are subject to rigorous licensing processes. Leonardo UK does not supply equipment directly to Israel.”
A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “Around 5:20am on Tuesday, 28 April, 2026, we were called to a report of a protest outside a business premises in the Crewe Road North area of Edinburgh.
“Officers are in attendance.”
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