Arms protesters in construction sit-in - BAe construction consultancy stormed in campaign against arms to Indonesia

Construction firms vying for projects seen as linking arms with aid could run into trouble with human rights activists, according to the Campaign Against Arms Trade after a sit-in last week at a construction company headquarters.

Last Monday fourteen activists stormed into the offices of Project Management International - the construction consultancy arm of British Aerospace. The sit-in at the director's office was in protest against sales of Hawk aircraft to Indonesia.

BAe had an injunction against the activists after some of them damaged Hawks due for export. But BAe's subsidiary PMI was one of two sites missed from the injunction list and the activists moved in for four hours. They left after talks with BAe security.

PMI manages building construction worldwide as part of the BAe group. It has done work at Prague airport in the Czech Republic and projects in the former Soviet Union.

The director was away from his office when the sit-in took place. The protesters rifled through PMI's files and held a mock funeral for people killed in East Timor after Indonesian forces invaded during the 1970s.

Police were called in to PMI's offices but BAe left security manager Malcolm Davidge to negotiate with the protesters.

Simon Raynes, spokesman for BAe said: "The activists stayed a while and we were polite and understanding rather than aggressive. The PMI office has nothing to do with Hawk aircraft and Indonesia."

Andrea Needham, one of four women acquitted last year of causing œ1.7 million damage to a Hawk destined for Indonesia, was among the activists occupying PMI's office. She told CJ: "BAe's incompetence in not listing these sites means that we could take action here without being in breach of our injunctions."