PEACE protesters gather outside York Minster in an attempt to persuade the Church of England to get rid of its shares in an American company.

War Oon Want and the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) say the Church of England has more than £2 million invested in Caterpillar, which makes bulldozers as well as high street fashion items.

The groups claim the bulldozers are used by the Israeli Army with machine gun-mounts and grenade launchers, to destroy thousands of Palestinian homes.

About 40 people took part in the protest, timed to coincide with the General Synod of the Church of England at the University of York.

Terry Gallogly, chairman of the PSC in York, said the shares in Caterpillar were "unethical" and "unjustifiable". He said: "We want the synod to know that the people of York and the world are concerned about this injustice and want them to divest from any involvement in this crime, in line with its ethical investment policy."

Joe Zacune, of War On Want, said he had travelled up from London. He said he thought it was important the protest went ahead despite the bombings.

He said: "People wonder why we're still doing it, but what happened in London was even more reason for us to highlight this."

A spokesman for the Church of England said it had "relatively modest" holdings in Caterpillar, but did not want to give a "knee jerk" response to the protesters.

He said they were taking the issue very seriously, but wanted to give Caterpillar managers an opportunity to explain themselves.

Updated: 09:44 Saturday, July 09, 2005