Direct action at Arms Fair: No faith in war

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Local activists joined Day three of the #StopDSEI week of action: Waves of action blocked both roads into the arms fair for hours at a time as activists gathered to oppose nuclear weapons and call for the government to shift from arms production to renewable energy.

Campaigner Gaynor Lloyd appears in the video along with Jonathan Bartley, Green Party co-leader. Gaynor remarked today, in a reference to the battle over the Harrow School public footpath:

 It is ironic that the Open Spaces Society were diffident about serving a notice under the Highways Act on Harrow School that would have led the school to be up in the Magistrates Court for a breach of Section 137 of the aforementioned Highways Act - after 9 years of  blocking Footpath 57. It took 11 minutes for me to get nicked for self- same offence on Wednesday.... Food for thought, eh?  

Natalie Bennett 'fully supports' Arms Fair protesters who are on trial from Monday

A group of protesters, including a Green Party councillor from Cambridge, accused of blocking access to a global arms fair in London last year will have the backing of the Green Party’s leader when they stand trial from Monday April 11th.

Natalie Bennett says if the group who disrupted the Defence & Security Equipment International arms fair were able to prevent arms sales to a dodgy regime then it will have been worthwhile.

The defendants are accused of having disrupted the setup of the arms fair by blocking the access roads to the site with their bodies and by locking themselves to the gates.

Multiple defendants are accused of having blockaded a road during the Stop The Arms Fair main day of action on  September 12th 2015. This includes Angela Ditchfield, a Green Party councillor from Cambridge.

Bennett, leader of the Green Party of England and Wales, said:

The protesters have my full support. Their peaceful act of civil disobedience will increase people's awareness of this dreadful market place in our country, which damages our own security as well as that of other nations.

They were aiming to prevent or delay delivery of arms that could be used in deadly, criminal and human rights abusing acts around the world.

Defendant Tom Franklin, 57, of Clifton Without, York said:

It is intolerable that the government is supporting the sale of illegal weapons and weapons being used to kill ordinary people from the West Bank to Yemen and Sudan.  'The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing.' So I had to try to prevent evil.

In a joint public statement the defendants’ campaign said:

We know that the tools of the type promoted for sale at DSEI will be used to reinforce apartheid, to surveil and brutalise communities from Brixton to Bahrain, and to perpetuate the border regime that kills thousands every year – as European states wage a war against the refugees they helped create.

We know that weapons promoted at DSEI are used to incinerate whole families at the touch of a button in places from Palestine to Pakistan. We know that such weapons will continue to devastate landscapes and do permanent environmental damage across the globe. And that these weapons have been used in systematic forced evictions and ethnic cleansing; such as against the people of Kurdistan. And we know that weapons of the type promoted at DSEI will be used to torture and repress people based on their political views, faith, gender, or sexuality in places like Saudi Arabia.  Sometimes the tools of oppression are literal – and they are for sale at DSEI arms fair.

Companies ejected from Arms Fair after Caroline Lucas' intervention

Two companies have been ejected from an arms fair after the Green MP for Brighton Pavilion raised evidence of breaches of the law in Parliament.

Caroline Lucas was provided with evidence that items being promoted at the DSEI arms fair currently under way at ExCel were illegal under UK law.  They included handheld projectile electric shock weapons, weighted leg cuffs, and stun batons.

She tabled a question in Parliament, and raised a point of order today.   DSEI has now confirmed  “that the Tianjin Myway International Trading Co. and Magforce International have been ejected from DSEI “

Caroline Lucas, MP for Brighton Pavilion said:

It’s frankly disgusting that items like this are being are being promoted at a supposedly legitimate trade event in Britain.

It’s incredibly worrying that it takes a question in Parliament for action to be taken when there was clear evidence of items being promoted illegally.  Time and again the organisers of DSEI have shown that they cannot guarantee that exhibitors will remain with the law.   The Government is supposed to regulate this event and has shown startling complacency.

Bennett on Syria: Focus on humanitarian aid, ban London Arms Fair and Scrap Trident

Transcript adaptation of speech

Syria: Greens amongst hundreds protesting against military strike

I joined many Greens and anti-war protesters on the Syria march this afternoon and it was great to see so many young people and families present. We were  united in wanting to reinforce the message to the Coalition government to keep out of the conflict but also in calling on President Obama not to attack Syria.

Green Party leader Natalie Bennett spoke for many when she called on the government to focus on humanitarian aid, call off the up-coming London Arm's Fair and abolish Trident.

I would add that given the widespread lack of confidence in politicans word on these issues that it is imperative that the findings of the Chilcot Inquiry be published as soon as possible.