The directors of Edo MBM Technology are seeking an exclusion zone like those obtained by research and pharmaceutical companies against animal-rights demonstrators. They claim employees are being assaulted and insulted and have been the victims of hate campaigns that imitate the animal-rights movement.

Papers to be shown to the court on Thursday quote one protester as saying: “You might as well break the law if you are going to get done for it anyway. The animal rights people have the right idea . . . watch your back boys.”

Sussex Police have been called to the Brighton factory 50 times in a year, at a cost of more than £30,000.

Activists are accused of shining laser lights into employees’ eyes when they are driving, putting glue in external locks, dumping concrete and manure in the reception area and throwing red paint bombs. They also allegedly assaulted a security guard, photographed staff and their vehicles, dismantled air conditioning vents and wrote to the neighbours of a director saying he was a mass murderer.

Protesters set up a roadblock last May, preventing access to the site for five hours. In June an employee was boxed in his car for 15 minutes. In September demonstrators staged a 24-hour rooftop sit-in.

One website reported a protester in November as saying: “Start making something useful at EDO and we will consider poshing (sic) someone else’s windows . . . we will not tolerate their presence. The campaign steps up in its directness.”

Edo MBM will apply for an exclusion zone around its premises, using the Protection from Harassment Act.

Edo MBM Technology Ltd is part of the Edo Corporation, which provides the United States Government and its defence contractors with military products. The New York-based corporation had revenues of $536 million (£286 million) in 2004. It creates defence systems for use on aircraft, ships and submarines, as well as countermeasures against underwater mines. It also manufactures weapons release systems for RAF aircraft. It employs 160 people and has been based in Brighton since 1946.

David Jones, Edo MBM’s managing director, said: “The campaign started in February last year and we have been subjected to numerous demonstrations. We fully respect everyone’s right to protest but have a responsibility for the health and safety of our employees.”

Tim Lawson-Cruttenden, the solicitor-advocate bringing the application on behalf of the company, said: “Two years ago I was vocally against the Iraq war, but this is not about war and peace, it is about the right not to be harassed in a liberal democracy.”

The injunction application names 14 individuals and two organisations, Smash EDO and Bombs Out Of Brighton, and would prevent them from going near the factory or within 100 yards of employees’ homes.

If granted, it would apply to the managing director, staff, subcontractors, security and their families, and to visitors. Six of the respondents have been convicted of obstructing the public highway after blocking Edo MBM’s premises. Another five were convicted of aggravated trespass after climbing onto the company’s roof last May. Others were arrested at a demonstration in March 2004.

Those behind the campaign point out that Brighton is a United Nations Peace Messenger City. During the Iraq war, Brighton and Hove City Council passed a motion condemning the conflict. A spokesman for Smash EDO said: “This is clearly a draconian attempt, under the influence of Sussex Police, to attack our right to assembly. We will be challenging the injunction.”

The application includes provision for a weekly, two-hour protest. Quakers from Brighton have held silent protests at the site and are not affiliated with the other demonstrations.

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