Daniel Tatlow-Devally, Crow Tricks, Leandra Rollo, Zo Hailu and Vi Kovarbasic appear in court, May 2026. Photo: Ignacio Rosaslanda
Germany is prosecuting five activists alleged to be part of Palestine Action Germany in what their lawyers have described as a “show trial” intended to stigmatise protesters “as [if they were] terrorists” and which legal experts argue shows a “deeply concerning development” in how the state is targeting political protest.
The so-called Ulm 5, who are from the UK, Germany, Spain and Ireland, are currently on trial at a high-security court at Stammheim prison in Stuttgart following a break-in at offices of the Israeli arms firm Elbit Systems in Ulm, southwestern Germany, in September 2025.
The defendants face charges of trespassing, property damage and using the symbols of a proscribed organisation.
They have also been charged with belonging to a criminal organisation under Section 129 of the German Criminal Code – a controversial piece of legislation human rights lawyers say is being used to “blur the line between organised crime and the legitimate exercise of people’s freedom of assembly and expression” such that the case will “have a chilling effect on others who are considering engaging in political protest”.
Framed as terrorists.
On 8 September 2025, Zo Hailu, Vi Kovarbasic, Leandra Rollo, Daniel Tatlow-Devally and Crow Tricks are alleged to have broken into the Ulm offices of Elbit Systems wearing signs reading “Palestine Action”.
The indictment, seen by Novara Media, alleges that they caused over €1m worth of property damage to the site, painted slogans including “Child murderer” and “Baby killer” (which the prosecution characterises as “antisemitic” messaging) and chanted pro-Palestinian slogans, including the phrase “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” (which some German courts have ruled constitutes a symbol of Hamas). All were arrested without resistance.
The activists are not being tried under terror legislation. Nor are they alleged to have been violent or harmed people. In fact, their lawyers argue this is precisely what they were trying to stop: by damaging the property of Elbit Systems, a company whose centrality to Israel’s genocide in Gaza is well-documented, their aim was to save the lives of Palestinians.
Yet despite this, their lawyers say both the courts and the prosecution are trying to create the impression that the defendants are terrorists.
The ‘Ulm 5’, including Britons Zo Hailu and Crow Tricks second and third from left (Supplied)
Two Britons are among activists being tried in Germany after targeting an Israeli weapons factory last year
Two British nationals are among five activists who were forcibly brought into a Stuttgart courtroom by police on Wednesday after statements they wished to read were seized from them.
This was the latest escalation in a case that their lawyers have described as a “show trial” and is part of a broader crackdown on those who take direct action for Palestine.
Zo Hailu and Crow Tricks, both British citizens based in Berlin, were arrested last September alongside three others from Spain, Ireland, and Germany following an action at an Elbit Systems facility in Ulm, near Stuttgart.
They are charged with trespass, destruction of property and membership of a criminal organisation, Palestine Action Germany, under section 129 of the German criminal code.
Elbit Systems, which has a growing number of factories across Europe, supplies 85 percent of the drones and land-based military equipment used by the Israeli military.
The company’s site in Ulm was recently revealed to have been exporting targeting equipment to Israel by Irish investigative news site The Ditch.
Ulm 5
Known as the Ulm 5, the activists have been held in pre-trial detention across five separate prisons in south-west Germany for eight months, exceeding Germany’s standard six-month limit.
Last week, without prior warning, the court issued a further 28 hearing dates beyond the 16 originally announced, extending the trial – which began on Monday – to January 2027.
By the time any verdict is reached, they will have spent 16 months in prison.
Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.Keir Starmer explains that UK is actively supporting Israel’s genocidal expansion and repeats his previous quotation that he supports Zionism “without qualification”. Keir Starmer said “I said it loud and clear – and meant it – that I support Zionism without qualification.” here: https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/keir-starmer-interview-i-will-work-to-eradicate-antisemitism-from-day-one/
In what can only be described as an acceleration and expansion of the bellicose and dangerous far-right populist movement around the globe, the U.S. government of Donald Trump is reportedly seeking to build an international coalition to oppose the anti-fascist left.
Washington says U.S. counterterrorism officials are organizing a summit in the summer to discuss and develop “strategies to counter the anti-fascist movement.”
White House and State Department officials have described such groups as a “serious threat to national security,” lumping together “anarchists, Marxists, and violent extremists.” The State Department claimed these organizations have waged “a terrorist campaign in the United States and across the Western world for decades, involving bombings, beatings, shootings, and riots in the service of their extreme agenda.”
The move comes as Trump has faced significant domestic opposition to many of his policies. This includes a sustained two-month popular uprising in Minnesota against violent anti-migrant sweeps by ICE, which ultimately forced the president to back down and withdraw the federal agents.
Labelling virtually all opposition as “terrorist” is an alarming escalation in Trump’s rhetoric, and it suggests a significant shift in counterterrorism priorities. The fact that the U.S. is trying to internationalize this effort—invitees to the summit include Canada, Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Hungary, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, India, and Indonesia—suggests that such a shift may be underway in other countries as well.
Reuters reported that sources within U.S. counterterrorism say the summit will encourage intelligence sharing and common strategies. Other reports suggest that Washington is considering multiple international conferences, beginning in May with a workshop with foreign law enforcement officials in The Hague to “teach them about the dangers of far-left groups and how to counter them.”
The U.S. push comes as right-wing political forces in Canada are also agitating to label dissent as “terrorist.” In a move eerily reminiscent of the McCarthy era, Conservative MP Garnett Genuis has reportedly asked federal departments and agencies to determine whether any of their employees or members have current or prior association with anti-fascist and anti-racist left movements.
Right-wing politicians and media typically use the term “antifa” to refer to a sweeping range of organizations and movements that oppose fascist, racist, and far-right groups. With such a broad interpretation, virtually any political grouping, however large or small, can be described as “terrorist” or “a threat to national security” and subject to state repression.
In no small part, this is the desperate response of a system that is in crisis and decay. As capitalism’s social contradictions sharpen—evidenced by recurring and deepening social and economic crises, increased inter-imperialist rivalry and competition, and the accelerating drive to militarism and war—an increasingly broad section of the population becomes drawn into opposition and resistance.
Cutting off the organizational and political leadership of this growing movement against capitalism, even if it is nascent, is of utmost importance to the ruling class. If the commanders of capitalism, at least those in the U.S., are indeed planning ahead through their “anti-anti-fascist summit,” then working people had better start doing the same.
The working-class movement needs to get to work on developing its own independent political action plan and building up organizations and alliances that can carry it out. This includes working to win more people over to political positions like opposing NATO and other imperialist military alliances, rejecting corporate trade deals and tripartite “social dialogue” with the bosses and their governments, and insisting on the necessity of class struggle.
It also means combatting anti-socialist and anti-communist propaganda, including within labor and “left” movements. Narratives that deny the achievements of the Soviet people, or which draw false distinctions between the Cuban people and the Cuban government, or which equate communism with fascism and terror—these kinds of lies are all designed to divide and weaken the working-class movement, and to reinforce the dictatorship of capital over working people.
It’s true that capitalism is not always fascist. But it’s also true that fascism is always capitalist, and when capitalism is in crisis, it is anti-anti-fascist. This is what we are seeing now, and this is why the working class, which alone has the power to transform society, must get organized.
People’s Voice
As with all op-eds published by People’s World, the views expressed here are those of the author.
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Donald Trump sings and dances, says that it’s fun to kill everyone …Orcas discuss Donald Trump and the killer apes’ concept of democracy. Front Orca warns that Trump is crashing his country’s economy and that everything he does he does for the fantastically wealthy.
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
U.S. military refueling aircraft are spotted at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv amid ongoing discussions over a possible U.S. strike on Iran in Tel Aviv, Israel on February 25, 2026. [Gideon Markowicz – Anadolu Agency]
Large-scale shipments of weapons and ammunition were allegedly transported to Israel over the past 24 hours through US military bases in Germany using dozens of cargo aircraft, Anadolu reports.
Israel’s Channel 13 reported Monday that dozens of cargo planes arriving from Israel at US bases in Germany were reloaded with ammunition before returning to Israel shortly afterward.
The report said the Israeli army remains on high alert over the possible resumption of attacks on Iran and that a timeline has been set for completing military preparations.
It added that there is a growing belief within the Israeli administration that US President Donald Trump could soon give the “green light” for renewed attacks on Iran.
On April 30, Israel’s Defense Ministry announced that two cargo ships and several aircraft carrying 6,500 tons of ammunition and light armored vehicles from the US had arrived in Israel.
Media reports this week also claimed that the US and Israel have been making intensive preparations for possible strikes on Iran.
Donald Trump sings and dances, says that it’s fun to kill everyone …Orcas discuss Donald Trump and the killer apes’ concept of democracy. Front Orca warns that Trump is crashing his country’s economy and that everything he does he does for the fantastically wealthy.
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
A screen grab captured from CCTV video show crew of the Spring 2026 mission of the Global Sumud Flotilla, which set sail to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza, Palestine, as the flotilla is blockaded by Israeli warships and drones at Mediterranean Sea on April 30, 2026. [Global Sumud Flotilla – Anadolu Agency]
At least 31 activists were injured during Israel’s interception of the Gaza-bound Global Sumud Flotilla in international waters, according to statements from the group, Anadolu Agency reports.
The Global Sumud Flotilla committee said those injured included activists from multiple countries, among them four each from New Zealand and Australia; three each from Italy and the US; two each from Canada, the Netherlands, Spain, the UK, Colombia and Germany; and one each from Hungary, Ukraine, France, Poland and Portugal.
One of the injured holds dual Turkish-German citizenship, while efforts are ongoing to determine the identities of three other passengers, it added.
In a separate statement, it said activists detained during the interception were subjected to ill-treatment aboard an Israeli naval vessel for nearly 40 hours.
The group said that detainees were deliberately denied sufficient water and food and forced to sleep on wet floors.
It also said participants who resisted the detention of Saif Abukeshek, a Spanish national of Palestinian origin, and Brazilian citizen Thiago Avila were met with force by Israeli soldiers.
One activist described the incident, saying, “As you can see, my nose is probably broken. My ribs hurt; maybe they are broken, too. I’m not sure. My neck as well. They kicked us, punched us, and dragged us on the ground, and we even heard shots being fired at people,” according to the statement.
The Global Sumud humanitarian aid flotilla was attacked Thursday near the Greek island of Crete, 600 nautical miles from its destination, the blockade-ravaged enclave of Gaza.
The flotilla’s first ships, carrying humanitarian aid, left Barcelona on April 12, while the main fleet set sail from the Italian island of Sicily on April 26, aiming to break Israel’s years-long blockade of Gaza.
Israel has imposed a crippling blockade on the Gaza Strip since 2007, leaving the territory’s 2.4 million people on the verge of starvation.
Israel launched a brutal two-year offensive on Gaza in October 2023, killing more than 72,000 people, injuring over 172,000, and causing massive destruction across the besieged territory.
Donald Trump sings and dances, says that it’s fun to kill everyone …Donald Trump calls for help from NATO allies in securing the Strait of Hormuz despite saying on 7 March 2026 that they don’t need people to join wars after they’ve already won. He’s challenged with the claim that he lies as much as the IDF.
