London: Week of protests against DSEI arms fair

Last years No Faith in War day

Source: CAAT

A week of protests have begun outside the Excel Centre, East London, which is due to host the DSEI arms fair next week.
The DSEI arms fair will bring thousands of arms company reps together with military delegations from some of the world's most authoritarian regimes.

Campaign Against Arms Trade can provide case studies, background information and statistics on UK and global arms trade

This week, thousands of campaigners are taking action at the Excel centre in East London as part of a week of action immediately before Defence & Security Equipment International 2019 (DSEI), one of the world's biggest arms fairs. The action will take place as military equipment arrives, with the aim of stopping the set-up of the event.

There will be actions and protests at the main entrances to DSEI all week, with a separate theme every day to highlight the deadly consequences of the arms trade. The week of action has been called by the Stop the Arms Fair network (which CAAT is part of).

For more details of each day - click on the links below:

Monday 2nd September: Stop Arming Israel

Tuesday 3rd September: No Faith in War

Wednesday 4th September: No Nuclear

Thursday 5th September: Conference at the Gates (an academic conference to explore and expose the arms trade)

Friday 6th September: Climate Justice

Saturday 7th September: Festival of Resistance

Sunday 8th September: Borders & Migration

There will be other actions happening during the week of DSEI, including Art the Arms Fair, a major art exhibition in London with art submitted by over 70 artists, including Shepard Fairey, who designed the Obama HOPE poster, and Sir Anish Kapoor.

The guest list for DSEI includes military delegations from 67 different countries, including representatives for a number of dictatorships and human rights abusing regimes; Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan, Philippines, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong, Israel, Turkey and Bahrain. All delegations have been invited by the UK Government.

The arms companies in attendance will include BAE Systems and Raytheon, which make the fighter jets and bombs that are being used by Saudi forces in Yemen.

Andrew Smith of Campaign Against Arms Trade said: "Thousands of activists and campaigners from across the UK will come together outside the Excel Centre this week. We will be united by our opposition to one of the biggest arms fairs in the world. DSEI will bring many of the world's most appalling regimes together with the biggest arms companies.

Right now, UK fighter jets and bombs are playing a central role in the destruction of Yemen; what will be the next atrocity they are used in? War, repression and injustice are fuelled by events like DSEI. It's time to shut it down for good."