Overview

• Activists from Palestine Action used electric scooters to enter the Oxfordshire base, spraying red paint into the engines of two Airbus Voyager refuelling aircraft before escaping undetected.
• The targeted Voyagers provide air-to-air refuelling and military transport, supporting UK operations and daily flights to RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus.
• Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned the action as “disgraceful” while the Ministry of Defence branded it “vandalism of Royal Air Force assets.”
• Thames Valley Police are working with specialist counter-terrorism officers and the Ministry of Defence Police to investigate the security breach and criminal damage.
• Home Secretary Yvette Cooper is preparing a parliamentary statement to proscribe Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation following the incident.