Court date for trio who protested Israeli factory

THREE protesters have appeared in court accused of refusing to move from the entrance of an Israeli-owned Newcastle arms factory.

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Retired political adviser and social worker Michael Bowan and Newcastle University graduates John Parkes and Joseph Gartland were in the dock after they allegedly didn't adhere to a police direction instructing them to leave Pearson Engineering's Armstrong Works, on Scotswood Road.

A court heard that they were among a group of 14 pro-Palestine activists who gathered to protest outside the entrance to the factory on September 19 this year and, in doing so, disrupted staff trying to get inside.

Bowan, 67, of Hilda Terrace, Throckley, Gartland, 23, of Osborne Court, in Jesmond, and Parkes, 23, of Heaton Road, in Heaton, all pleaded not guilty to failing to comply with prohibited assembly police direction when they appeared in the dock this week.