Liverpool Pax Christi join protest against proposed Arms Fair

Nigerian playwright Tayo Aluko as Paul Robeson,

In October this year, Liverpool plans to host many international arms companies who will be showcasing their electronic killing capacity. Despite the cities protest the event looks likely to go ahead.

Last Saturday, a broad coalition of groups, under the umbrella of Liverpool Against the Arms Fair, organised a march and rally through the city.

At least 1500 people joined in including trade union and political groups, church and peace groups, human rights and environmentalists. An Anglican clergyman said he had felt compelled to attend after watching the recent events unfold in Afghanistan.

There were speeches from politicians and veteran anti war campaigners as well as Maxine Peake, a local actress and extremely moving speeches from young people of Yemeni, Palestinian and Syrian heritage .

A samba band accompanied the march and there were some very creative puppets too. We were joined by a Nigerian contingent and Nigerian playwright Tayo Aluko, well known for his moving portrayal of Paul Robeson, added to the atmosphere with his singing . It was a very positive day and there was a real festival atmosphere . There will be continued lobbying and protest in the run up and during the event itself. We can only hope that at the eleventh hour the event will be cancelled and there will be a realisation that such an event does not belong in our city.