They demanded a fundamental shift in the UK’s approach to arms sales: an end to the government promotion of arms exports and no more sales to repressive regimes and areas in conflict. A samba band played, while one of the protesters scaled the entrance to BIS to hang a banner above the entrance.

Read the full press release from Campaign Against Arms Trade

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”.

Heckler & Koch has been the target of demonstrations since 2007 when Nottingham residents discovered its presence on the Lenton Lane industrial estate. The company has a long history of supplying weapons to unstable regions, and using licensed production deals in order to evade arms embargoes. This was the first direct action taken against the company.

The other five activists had already pleaded guilty and been sentenced on March 17th.

Heckler & Koch MD Mike Thornton

Mike Thornton, the Managing Director of Heckler & Koch was in court as a witness, and his performance was revealing: Having sworn to tell the whole truth, he baulked when cross-examined about his company’s activities.

Most notably, when asked if his company carried out manufacturing at its Lenton Lane industrial unit, he looked uncomfortable and asked the magistrates “Is it necessary to discuss that?” His response confirmed campaigners’ long-held suspicions that the warehouse is used to assemble automatic weapons.

Mr Thornton was given a copy of the Shut Down H&K campaign’s December 2009 open letter to him and asked if he had seen it before. He admitted to having received the letter, in which serious concerns about H&K were raised, and to having decided to ignore it. He did however concede that citizens have a legitimate right to protest against companies such as his.

The 18th Feb blockade of Heckler & Koch

The prosecution’s police witness was Chief Inspector Stephen Haylett, who characterised the protest as “about as good-natured as they get”. This left the prosecution struggling to convince the court that Thornton was a victim of intimidation. In his statement, the arms company boss claimed that the protest left him feeling “vulnerable and intimidated.” ”It was not known if [the protesters] were armed with any type of missiles,” said the man with the warehouse full of guns. (In fact, the reams of police video footage played in court showed the defendant wielding nothing more threatening than a cheese & pickle sandwich.)

It was Chief Inspector Haylett who told the activists on H&K’s roof that their banners would be returned, but in court he claimed that he couldn’t remember this, and so the bench agreed to the Crown’s request to destroy them. Fortunately, the campaign has already received a replacement banner from fellow anti-militarists in Germany.

Campaigners outside Nottingham Magistrates' Court

Despite the disappointing verdict, Kirk remains positive. “I’m glad I took the case to trial,” he said. “Companies like Heckler & Koch are profiting from war and repression with the support of the UK government. The arms industry must be opposed.”

The six activists have been left with a total of £825 in fines plus costs but this is a fraction of the cost to the company of being closed down for a day. On an average working day, Heckler & Koch’s Nottingham unit exports over £35 000 of arms and makes more than £12 500 profit.

If you would like to help the activists to pay their costs, you can donate via the Shut Down H&K website.

But campaigners at Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) have hit upon a novel way to bring these alleged corporate criminals to justice. A website, BAE:The People’s Jury has been set up to invite members of the public to air their views on BAE’s activities.

The website includes useful information on BAE’s activities and invites comments from interested members of the public. It already features hard-hitting contributions from prominent US academic Mike Koehler and the anti-corruption campaigner, former ANC MP, Andrew Feinstein whose blog details how BAE’s dealings have undermined South Africa’s fledgling democracy.

BAE: The People’s Jury is open to everybody and all are invited to contribute their thoughts.

CAAT is also hoping that supporters will join them on 5 May, the day of BAE’s AGM. A People’s Jury will chase an effigy of BAE Chairman Dick Olver from the headquarters of the government’s arms sales department (UKTI DSO) to the AGM venue at QEII Conference Centre in Westminster.

Campaigners hope that the People’s Jury campaign will result in a major embarrassment for BAE’s board as campaigners pose tough questions at the AGM.

More details on the day’s events are available on BAE: The People’s Jury website.

For further information or an interview please contact one of CAAT’s Campaigns Co-ordinators, Sarah Waldron or Anne-Marie O’Reilly on 020 7281 0297. Email addresses are sarah@caat.org.uk or anne-marie@caat.org.uk

The AMN successfully meet in Brighton during the first weekend of May. There were workshops on the link between military and the environment, the No Borders camp in Calais this summer and direct action training amongst others. Sessions on resisting the DSEi Arms Fair in London in September and the NATO Parliamentary Assembly in Edinburgh in November.

The next gathering will be in Nottingham 11th and 12th of July. More details to follow.

http://www.antimilitaristnetwork.org.uk/nextgathering

SMASH EDO – MAYDAY! MAYDAY!

The day after the gathering the Smash EDO campaign in Brighton held their biggest event to date. With crowd estimates of between 1,500 to 2,000 participants the lively demo took to the streets visiting companies which support ITT, the company which owns weapons component company EDO MBM. RBS, HSBC, Lloyds, Barclays and McDonalds, all of which are financially complicit with EDO, were targeted by the Smash EDO campaign. An Army Recruitment Centre was also attacked with paint. That night banks were also attacked with paint.

The Smash EDO campaign has worked tirelessly against EDO MBM, Brighton’s local weapons company, since 2004. This demo shows that five years on the campaign is going from strength to strength, with over a quarter of a million pounds of damage inflicted on the company’s premises earlier in the year. Arms companies be warned!

More info: http://www.smashedo.org.uk/ & http://decommisioners.wordpress.com/

TAMIL PROTESTS ROCK PARLIAMENT

With the Sri Lankan government’s genocide against the Tamil people continuing, Tamils around the world have taken to the streets to urge for action to stop the killing. In London thousands of Tamils have marched, blockaded Parliament Square and held hunger strikes. Demonstrations also took place in Oslo, Paris and Copenhagen.

More info: http://www.tamilsforum.com/ & http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2009/04/427063.html

NEW PEACE CAMP SET UP IN DERBY

Activists from Trident Ploughshares have set up camp opposite Rolls Royce’s site in Derby. The Rayensway plant contains a Neptune nuclear test reactor, used in testing nuclear material for the UK’s Trident armed nuclear submarines based at Faslane, Scotland. If you’re in the area pop in for a cup of tea!

More info: http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2009/05/429776.html

NOTTINGHAM ANTI-MILITARISTS PUT HECKLER & KOCH IN THE FIRING LINE

The Shut Down H&K campaign have been holding monthly demonstrations outside the small arms companies British HQ. The protesters have been been finding it hard to get the word out about the presence of a warehouse full of guns in Nottingham due to Police putting pressure on media corporations not to give any coverage. This demonstration was supported by comedian and thorn in the ass of the arms trade mark Thomas, who said “I really hope the campaign can grow and grow and actually get a result here.” This demo marked a year since the campaign started.

The next monthly demonstration will be Monday the 8th of June.

More info: http://www.shutdownhk.org.uk

SHEFFIELD STUDENTS REMOVE MILITARY RECRUITMENT FROM CAMPUS

Students in Sheffield physically removed the stalls of arms companies Rolls Roycs and QinetiQ and the Army and Navy from a careers event. The stalls were bagged up and removed from the campus. This follows on from several anti-militarist actions in Sheffield by students against military recruiting and arms companies.

More info: http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2009/04/428898.html?c=on#c222144