Support protest for the Telford Six. Photo: © Jo HIndley.
Quakers on trial for Telford action
The case of four Friends arrested at an arms fair in 2023 has begun
Four Quakers arrested at an arms fair in Telford in 2023 finally began their case last week.
The group of six protesters at Walsall Magistrates Court were charged with ‘chaining on’. This included locking themselves to each other and to the gates at the Specialist Defence and Security Convention-UK (SDSC-UK) at Telford International Centre (TIC) in November 2023.
Jo Hindley, from Cotteridge Meeting, told the Friend that the defendants on trial from 20 to 22 January were backed by a minute from Central England Quakers, with local Friends supporting them in the public gallery and outside. The four Quakers are Rajan Naidu, from Selly Oak Meeting; Louise Scrivens, from Solihull Meeting; Ralph Wallin, from Bournville Meeting; and Fran Wilde, of Selly Oak Meeting. The other defendants are Alison Bath of Calderdale, and Heather Wilde of Lincoln.
The case was adjourned after three days in court, in order for the judge to deliberate, particularly in light of new legislation. He will give his verdict when the trial reconvenes at Wolverhampton Magistrates Court on 3 March. Jo Hindley said: ‘Locking on… is a new change that came in under the new Public Order Act 2023 and this trial is one of the first to test this change.’
The group was backed by Andrew Feinstein, author of The Shadow World: Inside the global arms trade. The event ‘contributes directly’ to ‘the trade in weapons’, he said, which is responsible for ‘around 40 per cent of all criminal corruption in world trade’. It is also ‘the single largest sectoral contributor to environmental degradation and is the least regulated of all trades’, he added.
Campaigners say that exhibitors at SDSC-UK included ‘companies trading weapons being bought and used by repressive regimes who are violating international humanitarian law such as Saudi Arabia in Yemen, and Israel in Gaza’. After witness last year, they described how visitors to TIC, attending a Christmas pantomime, ‘expressed shock to learn that just the month before, in November, the TIC hosted an annual arms fair, and honked their horns to “stop arms fairs in Telford”’.
Friends also took part in a ‘day of action’ and vigil in November, featuring a giant puppet peace dove. Hundreds of postcards opposing the arms fair were sent to Angela Griffin, TIC’s managing director. Meanwhile, local residents and others have signed a petition requesting the council to ban the event.
