DSEi is the world's largest arms fair, held every other year in East London. It has been a focus for action against the arms trade in the past and this year was no different. The exhibition took place from 7th to 11th Sepetmber, with events planned for each day and Tuesday 8th September the nominated 'day of action'.
We arrived at the west entrance of the Excel centre shortly after
11, when the demo was due to start. It felt a little more subdued than
the 2007 demo which was directly outside the main entrance and prior to which protesters
here in Norwich targeted our vey own arms dealer MSI Defence Systems.
The atmosphere on the sunny morning of 8th September 2009 improved as
the crowd grew, with many people joining the choir and plenty of media interest.
At around 12 we posed for photos outside the wonderful routemaster buses that CAAT had organised to transport the protest the the UKTI offices in Victoria. The buses certainly generated interest as we travelled through London, including a few laps of Parliament Square to show solidarity with the Parliament Square peace camp.
Once at the UKTI headquarters Dan Viesnik carried on his hunger strike in the doorway to the offices, while others chanted, held placards and handed out leaflets informing people of the support UKTI provides to the UK arms trade.
For further reports about 2009 DSEi related actions see here, here and here.
At around 12 we posed for photos outside the wonderful routemaster buses that CAAT had organised to transport the protest the the UKTI offices in Victoria. The buses certainly generated interest as we travelled through London, including a few laps of Parliament Square to show solidarity with the Parliament Square peace camp.
Once at the UKTI headquarters Dan Viesnik carried on his hunger strike in the doorway to the offices, while others chanted, held placards and handed out leaflets informing people of the support UKTI provides to the UK arms trade.
For further reports about 2009 DSEi related actions see here, here and here.
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