Peace groups unite to oppose world’s biggest arms fair
Quakers maintained a strong dissenting presence outside the world's biggest market for weapons as it emerged that the UK government had invited countries on its own watch list.
The four-day DSEI arms trade show offers a platform to 1,600 defence and security suppliers and representatives of human rights-abusing nations.
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan's request that the event should not return after its last visit in 2021 has been ignored.
And the Government's official list of invitees includes eight countries on the Foreign Office's list of human rights abusers, including Colombia, Bangladesh and Egypt.
As merchants of death hawked their guns and tanks inside, Quaker Roots and other peace protestors from Pax Christi to Campaign Against Arms Trade, united to register their opposition.
Police arrested six Quakers under Section 14 of the Public Order Act alongside three others during a silent Quaker meeting at last Thursday's No Faith in War Day.
They were released on pre-charge bail on condition they did not return to the ExCeL Centre before 15 September and ordered to attend Charing Cross Police Station at a later date.
And on the eve of the arms fair, which includes a working dock with British and Dutch frigates on display, almost 200 Quakers and others held a silent candlelit vigil outside the ExCeL Centre.
Earlier that day, a walk of witness visited arms company offices in London. Others took part in a Peace Pilgrimage from Oxford to the ExCeL Centre.
The DSEI arms fair runs from 12-15 September, promoted and facilitated by the UK Government. It violates all the Quaker testimonies, from peace through equality, truth and simplicity.
Conflict can and should be addressed through conflict prevention, diplomacy and peacebuilding, rather than the use of arms, Quakers believe.