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May

Nottingham anti-arms-trade activist convicted

Categories: Heckler & Koch, police and resistance

Rooftop occupation at Heckler & Koch

On May 20th at Nottingham Magistrates’ Court, anti-arms-trade activist Kirk Jackson was found guilty of aggravated trespass for his part in a protest that shut down an arms company for a day. He was given a twelve month conditional discharge and ordered to pay £350 court costs.

The charge arose from a February 18th protest at the Nottingham warehouse of international arms company Heckler & Koch. Before dawn, four activists locked themselves to the gates, preventing employees from entering, while Kirk and another activist climbed onto the roof and displayed banners accusing the company of “arming repressive regimes”.

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Feb

H&K Shut Down For A Day

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Categories: Heckler & Koch and police

The international sales office of arms manufacturer Heckler & Koch was shut down on Thursday 18^th 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.

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Jan

Heckler & Koch hides from Citizens’ Audit

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Categories: Heckler & Koch and police

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?”
Heckler & Koch Citizens' Audit 18th Jan 2010 Continue reading ‘Heckler & Koch hides from Citizens’ Audit’

Jun

Smash EDO Carnival Against the Arms Trade

By Sam The Don 0 Comments

Categories: arms trade and police

On Wednesday the 4^th of June approximately 500 people marched through Brighton to an arms factory run by the firm ITT, previously EDO MBM. A delegation travelled from Nottingham and distributed Veggies food to demonstrators.

Billed as a Carnival Against the Arms Trade, this event was called by Smash EDO, a Brighton-based group with the aim of shutting down the EDO/ITT arms factory. EDO/ITT make bomb racks, release clips and arming mechanisms for warplanes used in the Iraq war and the Israeli bombardments of Lebanon and Gaza.

Police attempted to force the crowd into a small pen made of crowd barriers, which was quickly dismantled by protesters. One of the factory gates mysteriously opened, and a police van attempted to block the entrance to the EDO/ITT car park, but protesters seized the opportunity to enter the car park and vent their rage against the arms company.

Some of EDO’s windows were smashed and the building was graffitied. The police escalated the situation with the use of batons, pepper spray and dogs to force protesters back away from the factory. Several protesters were injured and there were many reports of police brutality.

Over the day ten people were arrested and were held for up to thirty hours and eight people had their houses raided. The police applied for a twelve hour extension of the 24 hour maximum period of detention, but failed to press any charges. For full coverage, check Indymedia.

Sep

DSEi 2007 – Opposing the arms fair

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Categories: DSEi and police

A protester holding a placard at DSEi 2007 A contingent of activists from Nottingham traveled to London to take part in the protests against the DSEi arms fair.

The day before the arms fair got underway, Jane’s mlitary analysts held a conference at The Mayfair hotel at which top brass advised the military-industrial complex how to prepare for future wars. Nottingham’s vegan catering campaign Veggies was there, serving food and drink to activists on the picket line. (See Indymedia for more info.)

Mark Thomas speaking at the CAAT rally against DSEi 2007 Tuesday September 11th was DSEi’s opening day, and a Day Of Action against the arms fair. In the morning there was a colourful march called by Campaign Against the Arms Trade that ended in a rally outside the arms fair. The police tried to corral the protesters inside a pen but gave up when the crowd spilled out to hear speakers including comedian and activist Mark Thomas.

As usual, policing of the event was heavy-handed with a bill to the taxpayer that ran into millions. In addition to a massive police presence at the arms fair, police vehicles remained outside the RampART social centre to monitor and intimidate activists. Protesters from Nottingham were detained and searched, and one was taken into custody twice.

The Space Hijackers auction a tank at DSEi 2007 Despite this, the police failed to prevent the Space Hijackers from pulling off a spectacular media stunt: The anarchist group drove a 60-ton tank up to the west entrance of the arms fair and “auctioned” it off to the highest cash bidder, satirising the unethical nature of the arms trade. Check the Space Hijackers website for the hilarious full story.

In other actions, a group of activists from Brighton tried to storm the arms fair but were arrested, a pair of London Catholic Worker activists poured fake blood all over a gangway to the arms fair, and a lady of 66 was arrested for trying to leaflet arms dealers. Thanks to the efforts of campaigners like Mark Thomas, customs officers patrolled the arms fair for the first time and two exhibitors were thrown out for marketing leg irons.

The number of demonstrators was down on previous years, perhaps due in part to the recent rise of climate change activism, and some were frustrated that they were unable to disrupt the arms fair. However the protests got good coverage in local and national media, prompting DSEi and DESO to field spokesmen to talk down the “tanks, ships and aircraft” and talk up the “humanitarian” and “peacekeeping” applications.

For full coverage of actions against the arms fair, check Indymedia. There are also a couple of good BBC video clips here and here. (Can you spot the Nottingham activists in both?) And a great comment piece in The Guardian sums up the links between DSEi and war, corruption and human rights abuses.

DSEi will be back in 2009; the dates have been confirmed. DSEi will be back and so will we.

Jun

Action against police surveillance

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Categories: police

Fed up with intrusive surveillance and intimidation, Disarm DSEi activists have established FIT Watch – a movement aimed at turning the tables on police Forward Intelligence Teams.