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DSEi Arms Fair Blockade

Paul | 02.09.2003 13:27 | London | World

Yesterday, 1st September, contractors and exhibitors started to arrive at the largest arms fair in the world. Peace campaigners were waiting for them.

Access was blocked for six hours.

tripods blocked on access roads

Arm tubes blocked the other access road

Police admire a placard

Humour and conviction

September 11th attack on the twin towers happened during the 2001 arms fair but the selling of weapons continued uninterrupted. No minutes of silence just profit from the fuelling of conflict, war, oppression and human rights abuses. A third of the population dies in East Timor with the help of out weapons. At this very moment people are being killed and oppressed in Aceh, Indonesia with our weapons. Without this arms fair, where countries shop for weapons they will use against each other, the ability to destroy bodies and lives would be reduced.

Peace campaigners believe that they can disrupt the arms fair and increase the cost of running it and therefore stop it in future years.

It can be stopped if enough people are aware of what is happening and the fact that our taxes are supporting this abhorrent business.

See www.oxfordindymedia.org for more information.

GET TO DESI AND HELP SHUT IT DOWN

Paul
Homepage: http://www.oxford.indymedia.org

Comments

Hide the following 5 comments

Accuracy

02.09.2003 15:45

Not to be pernickety, but accuracy is important if Indymedia is to be trusted. Access to the East entrance was indeed blocked for around 6 hours, but total access to the site was only blocked for about 90 minutes/2 hours, after which another access route was opened by the organisers...

Matt

Matt S

see previous.

02.09.2003 16:21

see my previous comment on listing of same at 1222 2.9 re; SRAM idea.

Greenlantern

accom for visiting delegates

02.09.2003 17:01

There's a Expotel link here giving details of the nearby hotels which offer discount room rates for delegates - so it may be worth visiting these as well?

" Expotel have negotiated special rates at the hotels listed below, for people attending the DSEI 2003 at the ExCeL Exhibition Centre. This event is to be held on the 9/9/2003 until the 12/9/2003."

gnome
Homepage: http://www.expotel.com/?eventcode=DSEI2003

Effectiveness and Accuracy

02.09.2003 23:19

Blockade started at around 8 am and the last person was removed at about 2:30pm.
NO VEHICLES OBTAIN ACCESS VIA THE EAST FOR SIX HOURS!

However, the tripod blockade at the west gate did not prevent small vehicles (panel vans etc) from gaining access.

After 2 hours and ten minutes, a route was made for larger vehicles through a construction site. Only one vehicle could pass in or out at the same time using this route so it was slow. Very large vehicles (extra large flat bed trucks) could not use this route.

The action certainly seems to have been disruptive. A contractor working on a display was overheard to be complaining to police that they were unable to get their work done until a delivery was made.

Well done everyone involved.

Hotel

03.09.2003 10:48

How about booking a room or two in the hotel?? This could allow quite a lot of us to gain access to the hotel and do all kinds of actions - following delegates around, banners out of windows, blocking lifts etc etc.

Mercury Kev

UK Indymedia