Quakers seized at arms fair
At least eight Friends were arrested during protests against the DSEI arms fair
At least eight Quakers were seized by police while engaging in a peaceful witness against the world’s biggest arms fair in London on Tuesday 5 September.
Faith and peace activists blocked a road for at least four hours to prevent vans carrying weapons from entering the Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI) arms fair at the ExCeL centre.
The day was the second in a week of protest at the event. London Friend Sam Walton confirmed that eight Quakers were arrested while attempting to stop the vans.
Campaign Against Arms Trade spokesman Andrew Smith described the policing as ‘very heavy, with a ridiculously large presence’.
He said: ‘The arms being sold at DSEI could be used in terrible crimes for years to come, yet the police are more focused on arresting campaigners while protecting the interests of arms companies and human rights abusing regimes.’
The protest also saw activists using abseiling equipment to hang from a bridge. Priests and ministers from different dominations held a communion in their bid to stop arms reaching the centre.
Enid Gordon, a seventy-year-old Methodist minister from North Shields, was arrested on Monday.
On Tuesday Friends stood alongside Muslims, Buddhists, Jews and Christians in a ‘No Faith in War’ day of demonstration.
Members of Christian peace groups Put Down the Sword and the London Catholic Worker prevented access to service roads leading to London’s ExCeL centre, creating a prayer space for faith groups to gather and witness against the arms trade.
The peace activists held the road for almost two hours while faith groups including Friends, Pax Christi, Wake Up, the Anglican Pacifist Fellowship said prayers and bore witness. The blockade ended when all those in the street were arrested.
Simon Watson, a Friend from London who took part in the protest, said: ‘I am a Quaker and member of the Catholic Worker movement. So, as a Christian I am compelled to follow Jesus who always rejected the way of violence and war. The DSEI arms fair is one of the worst examples of greed, causing people to distance themselves from the suffering of others.’
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