The blockade at Heckler & Koch's Nottingham warehouse
On Thursday 20th May, an anti-arms-trade activist will stand trial at Nottingham Magistrates’ Court. Kirk Jackson is pleading not guilty to a charge of aggravated trespass for his part in a protest that closed the international sales office of arms company Heckler & Koch for a day.
On 18th Feburary, Jackson and another local activist climbed onto the roof of Heckler & Koch’s unmarked warehouse in the Lenton Lane industrial estate and unfurled banners accusing the company of “arming repressive regimes”.
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Rooftop occupation at Heckler & Koch
The six activists who blockaded the Nottingham-based arms company Heckler & Koch appeared at Nottingham Magistrate’s Court on March 17th and 18th on charges of aggravated trespass.
Five pleaded guilty and were ordered to pay between £40 and £195 each in costs and fines. The two with prior convictions were also served with 12-month restraining orders preventing them from entering Easter Park, the industrial park in which Heckler & Koch’s warehouse is situated.
The sixth activist pleaded not guilty. His trial will take place at Nottingham Magistrates’ Court on Thursday May 20th at 09:45. The arms company’s Managing Director will be called as a witness. A bail condition preventing the activists from associating with each other was lifted.
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The latest film by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, director of Amélie, is a wacky caper about a group of oddball characters who decide to take direct action against the arms trade. In it, the products of one Nottingham-based arms company – Heckler & Koch – make a brief appearance.
Micmacs follows the fortunes of hapless video store clerk Bazil, who decides to take revenge on two arms companies – one that made the landmine that killed his father, and the other that made the bullet that nearly killed him.
Continue reading ‘Micmacs: A film about direct action against the arms trade’
The international sales office of arms manufacturer Heckler & Koch was shut down on Thursday 18th February by anti-arms-trade activists.
The six activists arrived at H&K’s Nottingham warehouse building before any employees turned up. Using D-locks and arm-tubes, one pair locked themselves to the staff entrance while another pair blockaded the goods gate. Meanwhile the other two gained access to the roof and hung anti-arms-trade banners on the front of the building.
Continue reading ‘H&K Shut Down For A Day’
HK - Not in Nottingham!
A poster opposing Nottingham-based arms company Heckler & Koch has appeared at various locations around the city. The poster is the work of a mysterious local artist known only as Questionmarc, and was designed as “a subliminal awareness raiser that the corrupt firm continues to operate from our city.”
The poster features a picture of the rooster troubadour Alan-a-Dale from Disney’s animated Robin Hood film, but instead of holding his traditional lute, he is holding a Heckler & Koch assault rifle. He stands atop the red HK logo, under which are the words “NOT IN NOTTINGHAM” (the refrain of a lament that he sings in the film).
Continue reading ‘Anti-H&K poster appears around Nottingham’
On 21st December 2009, anti-arms-trade campaigners wrote to Nottingham-based arms company Heckler & Koch outlining their grave concerns about the company’s business activities, including the supply of weapons to repressive regimes. The open letter asked H&K to account for its dodgy dealings and provide assurances that its weapons would not be used to commit human rights abuses.
Heckler & Koch failed to reply, so 28 days later, groups of concerned citizens set out to audit the arms company and to pose the question to the people of Nottingham: “What are they hiding?”
Continue reading ‘Heckler & Koch hides from Citizens’ Audit’
H&K weapons on display at the DSEi 2009 international arms fair
The first protest against Nottingham-based arms company Heckler & Koch took place in May 2000, but it wasn’t until May 2008 that another demonstration launched the Shut Down H&K campaign, which has been running ever since.
18 months in, the campaign has decided that it’s about time to speak to Heckler & Koch. So, the campaign has written H&K a letter summarising the people’s concerns and asking the company to come clean about its dirty business…
Continue reading ‘An Open Letter to Heckler & Koch’
Arms company Heckler & Koch has been in the news this week. It seems that H&K, whose international sales office is located in Nottingham, is still in the business of arming regimes that are well known to commit gross violations of human rights. We look at three examples from around the world.
Continue reading ‘Caught in the Act: H&K Selling Guns to Human Rights Abusers’
At mid-day on Friday November 13th, around 25 anti-arms-trade protesters gathered in the Arboretum park in Nottingham to take part in a unique, eye-catching demonstration against local arms company Heckler & Koch.
A 25-foot long model of a H&K weapon had been built from a frame of willow wood, covered and painted black, and bearing the legend popularised by Brighton’s anti-arms-trade campaign Smash EDO: “Every bomb and every bullet fired is made somewhere… Find it… Resist it!”
This gun was carried by the demonstrators in a long march from the Arboretum to the gates of Easter Park – the Lenton Lane industrial site that contains H&K’s warehouse. In returning the gun to the company that produced it, the demonstrators made a highly visible statement that H&K’s dirty business is not wanted by the people of Nottingham.
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Peruvian security forces armed with Heckler & Koch rifles and submachine guns have killed dozens of indigenous protesters near the northern city of Bagua.
Indigenous communities of the Peruvian Amazon have been protesting against new “Free Trade” laws that would open up their ancestral lands to drilling for gas and oil. Since April 2009, indigenous protesters have stepped up their protest, blocking road and river transport and shutting down oil and gas pumping stations. On June 6, Peruvian President Alan García ordered in the troops, and police opened fire using live rounds on a crowd of protesters.
Peruvian police armed with H&K rifles take up positions in Bagua
Continue reading ‘Peru protesters killed by police armed with H&K’
