Last week witnessed a sharp escalation in localised pro-Palestine activism across the UK, with protesters taking direct, non-violent action against companies enabling Israel’s ongoing military operations. Two distinct demonstrations – a mock funeral outside insurance giant Allianz’s Guildford headquarters on Tuesday and a disruptive picket at the ADS Group’s annual Christmas drinks in London on Thursday – underscore how community-level resistance continues to challenge the financial and industrial architecture underpinning genocide.
A Funeral at the Gates – Targeting Allianz in Guildford
On Tuesday, December 9th, around a dozen activists from Woking for Palestine and West Surrey Palestine Solidarity Campaign gathered outside Allianz’s main UK headquarters in Guildford for what has become a monthly ritual of resistance. But this demonstration was different. Rather than the familiar banners and speeches, protesters staged a solemn mock funeral procession – complete with a coffin, shrouded figures, and flowers – laying their symbolic dead at the very doorstep of complicity.
The choreography was deliberate and haunting. Four protesters carried banners. Six others formed an archway with flags, creating a ceremonial passage through which pallbearers carried the coffin. Behind them, mourners dressed in shrouds bore flowers, their faces hidden, their silence deafening. The procession moved through the archway and placed the coffin directly in front of Allianz’s entrance. Two shrouds were draped over the coffin itself, with others arranged around it, transforming the corporate plaza into an impromptu memorial.
The symbolism was unmistakable – the shrouds represented the tens of thousands of Palestinians killed by Allianz client, Elbit Systems.
This marked the ninth consecutive monthly protest outside Allianz’s Guildford office, part of a sustained campaign that began roughly a year ago. As one organiser explained, the strategy has always been persistence over spectacle. “It’s no good just turning up once and having a protest and then never going back again. It’s got to be regular,” they said. What started with just four or five protestors has grown to between 20 to 25 at its peak.
“We’ve spoken with people inside, we know that when we do our PA address outside they can hear every word inside the building,” an organiser noted. Each speech is crafted specifically for Allianz employees, designed to pierce the corporate veil, and force a reckoning with the human cost of their employer’s business decisions.
The police and private security were present, as they are at every demonstration, but they kept their distance. “They know that we’re absolutely peaceful,” the organiser said. This commitment to non-violence has created a grudging tolerance from authorities, even as it amplifies the protesters’ moral authority.
Allianz and Elbit – The Business of Genocide
Allianz, one of Europe’s largest insurance firms, has become a primary target for protesters due to its deep entanglement with Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest arms manufacturer. Through its subsidiary Allianz Insurance Products Trust, the company provides essential employers’ liability insurance to Elbit Systems UK. Without this coverage, Elbit could not legally operate its weapons factories on British soil.
But Allianz’s complicity doesn’t stop at insurance. The firm also holds significant shareholdings in Elbit Systems, having previously been described as the company’s ‘principal institutional shareholder,’ at one point owning over 2% of the weapons manufacturer. This dual relationship – as both insurer and investor – means Allianz profits directly from the Elbit weapons deployed by Israel against Palestinian civilians.
Elbit supplies over 85% of Israel’s military attack drones, including the Hermes series 450 and 900 models used extensively in Ghazzah. The company also manufactures tank and cannon shells, laser-guided mortars, artillery rockets, and armoured vehicle systems – all of which have been deployed in what human rights organisations and international bodies have characterised as genocidal operations. Elbit has even marketed its weaponry as ‘battle-tested’ on Palestinians, turning mass violence into a grotesque selling point.
Throughout 2024 and 2025, Allianz has been subjected to an unrelenting campaign of direct action. Offices across the UK and Europe have been occupied, smashed, and doused in red paint. In January 2025, fifteen offices were struck across Britain and Europe in a coordinated wave of actions. Windows have been shattered in Birmingham, Berlin, Frankfurt, Paris, Málaga, Vienna, and Taipei. Activists have scaled buildings, occupied headquarters, and even flown a Palestinian flag over the Allianz-owned Twickenham Stadium during a Six Nations rugby match.
The Guildford protests represent a different tactical approach – monthly, non-violent, community-based actions designed to build sustained pressure rather than dramatic one-off disruptions. Yet the goal remains the same – to make Allianz’s relationship with Elbit so costly, so disruptive, and so morally untenable that the insurance giant is forced to sever ties.
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Disrupting the Death Trade – Protesters Crash ADS Group‘s Christmas Festivities
Two days later, on Thursday December 11th, approximately 50 protesters descended on the offices of the ADS Group in London, where arms dealers were due to gather for their annual Christmas drinks.
The ADS Group is not a household name, but it is one of the most influential organisations in Britain’s arms trade. A lobby group and trade association representing the aerospace, defence, and security industries, ADS boasts several controversial members including Israeli weapons firms Elbit Systems and Leonardo. The group’s stated mission is to ‘support UK manufacturing and industry supply chains’ and ‘influence policy’ – a euphemism for lobbying the government to prioritise arms sales and military spending.
ADS plays a crucial role in connecting arms dealers with each other and with government officials, facilitating what it calls ‘investment’ but what activists rightly characterise as investment in death. The organisation hosts trade missions, organises exhibitions, and provides business development services to ensure that Britain’s arms manufacturers remain competitive in the global market for violence.
Protesters arrived at 4pm, just as the event was scheduled to begin. Armed with drums, megaphones, and an unwavering sense of purpose, they established a picket line that made it impossible for guests to enter unnoticed. According to one protester, many arms dealers “arrived by taxi, heard the noise, saw the picket, and simply scurried away into side streets, frantically checking their phones to figure out what to do.” The protesters moved strategically between the front and back entrances, adjusting their position based on where attendees were attempting to enter.
The disruption was effective. Only a handful of guests managed to get inside. Those who did make it in, didn’t stay long. By 6pm, the event had effectively collapsed, with many arms dealers leaving early through side exits, their festive evening thoroughly ruined.
Four police officers attended, along with internal security, but there were no arrests. Protesters focused on maintaining high energy through chanting and drumming rather than engaging directly with attendees. The message was clear and uncompromising: “We’re going to confront them with the reality of their deadly trade and let them know that until there’s justice, they’ll have no peace.”
The Booming Business of Death – Britain’s Growing Arms Trade
The disruption of ADS Group’s Christmas drinks takes on added significance when viewed against the backdrop of Britain’s rapidly expanding defence industry. Recent data reveals that the UK’s aerospace, defence, and security sectors added some £40 billion in value to the economy in 2023 – a 50% increase over the past decade.
The UK government has enthusiastically embraced this expansion. In 2024, the Conservative government announced an additional £5 billion for defence – described as the largest budget increase since the Cold War. The Labour government that followed has maintained this trajectory, with plans to further increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2030. In September 2025, the government published its Defence Industrial Strategy, explicitly framing arms manufacturing as central to economic growth – and perversely, national prosperity.
This is where organisations like the ADS Group prove invaluable to the arms industry. Through its extensive lobbying efforts, it ensures that government policy prioritises defence spending, streamlines procurement processes, and removes barriers for companies operating in the defence space. ADS hosts special interest groups, boards, and committees that bring together industry representatives and government officials, creating a revolving door between the private sector and the Ministry of Defence.
In essence, ADS serves as the connective tissue of Britain’s military-industrial complex, linking manufacturers to investors, investors to government, and government to foreign buyers. When protesters disrupted their Christmas drinks, they weren’t just spoiling a party – they were striking at the institutional heart of an industry built on human suffering.
The Power of Persistent, Local Action
What connects the mock funeral in Guildford and the disrupted drinks in London is a shared recognition that meaningful change requires sustained, multifaceted pressure. These actions represent two complementary approaches within a broader movement – the monthly vigil that builds community solidarity and moral witness, and the tactical disruption that imposes material costs on complicit corporations.
The Guildford protesters understand that their dozen participants may seem small compared to mass demonstrations in London, but their consistency matters. Month after month, they show up. Month after month, Allianz employees hear the speeches. Month after month, the company spends resources on security and police presence. This is the slow grind of moral pressure, the insistence that complicity cannot be normalised or ignored.
The London protesters, meanwhile, demonstrated that even the most powerful industry groups are vulnerable to disruption. Arms dealers who expected a convivial evening of networking found themselves confronted by the reality of their trade. Their event collapsed, their comfort shattered, their assumption of impunity challenged.
Both actions also highlight the importance of local, community-based resistance. Too often, activism is understood as something that happens in major cities or at spectacular one-off events. But the Woking and West Surrey groups prove that ordinary people in ordinary towns can mount effective campaigns against globally significant targets, such as Allianz. They don’t need thousands of participants or extensive resources – just commitment, creativity, and a refusal to look away.
Moreover, these localised actions serve as a catalyst for broader consciousness. When a coffin appears outside Allianz’s headquarters, it forces a confrontation with questions that most people would prefer to avoid: Where does my pension fund invest? Which companies does my insurance provider support? What is the relationship between my everyday financial transactions, and violence half a world away?
As Israel’s assault on Ghazzah continues into its third year, the imperative for action has never been clearer. Governments may dither, corporations may deflect, but grassroots movements refuse to accept business as usual. They understand that every insurance policy underwriting Elbit’s operations, every investment in weapons manufacturers, every lobbying effort by groups like ADS represents a choice – and that choice can be opposed.
Their message is simple but profound – as long as companies enable genocide, as long as arms manufacturers profit from Palestinian deaths, there will be no peace for the profiteers. The mock funeral will return to Allianz’s gates. The picket lines will re-form outside industry events. The pressure will continue to build.
Because in the face of genocide, silence is complicity. And in the struggle for justice, even a dozen people with a coffin and a megaphone can become a force for change.
— © 2025 Sul Nowroz – Real Media staff writer – Insta: @TheAfghanWriter
