Activists threw red paint across the road leading up to an arms factory which makes parts for fighter jets used by the Israeli military.

Protesters threw the “fake blood” across Home Farm Road in Moulsecoomb, Brighton, in the early hours of Thursday morning and scrawled “L3Harris kills” across the road.

The protest follows an escalation in tensions in the Middle East after Israel widened its assault into Lebanon, sparking retaliation from Iran after the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrullah.

Red paint was thrown over the road and graffiti was scrawled on a sign with L3Harris’s logo on it claiming the arms company “kills kids”.

L3Harris produces bomb racks at its Moulsecoomb factory which are used in F-35 fighter jets produced in America. These fighter jets are then sold to Israel.

Protesters, spearheaded by the Stop L3Harris group, have been campaigning to shut down the operation over moral objections to the use of weapons in the growing conflict in the Middle East.

A graffitied sign near the L3Harris factoryA graffitied sign near the L3Harris factory (Image: Stop L3Harris)

Stop L3Harris supporter Stevie Marjorie, 24, said: "The arms trade and L3Harris bring shame to our city.

“I don't want them to get away with operating in silence and in secrecy. I want everyone to know when they look at that road that that's where the dirty bomb factory is and remind everyone that drives up the road every day that L3Harris has blood on their hands.”

Brighton and Hove City Council previously rejected a retrospective planning application by L3Harris for an extension to their site in Home Farm Business Park.

L3Harris’s landlords, Paxton, said they would also not renew their lease when it eventually expires in 2027.

Hermione Berendt, of the Stop L3Harris campaign, said: “The people that poured fake blood over Home Farm Road are sending an important message to L3Harris.

“It’s been one year of heartbreak, watching Israel destroy people’s lives day after day.

“We want to see a full arms embargo on Israel, an end to the bloodshed and the L3Harris arms factory out of our city immediately.”