Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI) is one of the world’s largest arms fairs. It’s taking place at the ExCeL Centre in London between 12 and 15 September. The biannual event is always met with resistance from campaign groups and activists, who are then equally met by heavy-handed treatment by the cops. Already, it looks like this year will be no different – as police targeted activists before anything had even begun.

DSEI: stop the arms fair

As the Canary previously reported, DSEI takes place every two years. Thousands of arms dealers and defence and security suppliers gather at the ExCeL centre to court repressive regimes:

This year, over 2,800 defence and security suppliers will be courting deals. However, every time DSEI takes place, activists also descend on the ExCeL centre and its locality to protest it. Stop the Arms Fair (STAF) organises the resistance – and the Canary has repeatedly reported on this bi-annual horror show.

This year, protests began on 5 September and will run for two weeks:

https://twitter.com/StopTheArmsFair/status/1696570745088864688 https://nitter.cz/StopTheArmsFair/status/1696570745088864688

The group Campaign Against The Arms Trade (CAAT) has already made camp outside the ExCeL Centre:

https://twitter.com/StopTheArmsFair/status/1696570745088864688 https://nitter.cz/StopTheArmsFair/status/1696570745088864688

During the first week, activists will target the setting up of the arms fair. However, police are already disrupting protesters’ right to go about their business.

Cops already targeting activists

For example, as campaign group the Network for Police Monitoring (Netpol) wrote on X (formerly Twitter):

Police refused to allow the delivery of portable toilets to the protest camp saying it’s private property – even though campaigners have permission for them and it’s really none of the police’s business. The usual petty restrictions on the right to demonstrate, in other words

read more: https://www.thecanary.co/uk/2023/09/05/dsei-police-target-activists/