Late on 28th February, we received news that 6 people, including 4 CEQ Friends, who took action at Telford International Centre Arms Fair on 1st Nov 2023, had been acquitted. Rajan Naidu, Louise Scrivens, Ralph Wallin and Fran Wilde, acting under Concern, along with Ali Bath and Heather Wilde, chained on to each other and the Centre’s main gate and were charged with ‘locking on’ to obstruct access to the 2023 event.
‘Locking on’—a long-standing form of peaceful protest used by suffragettes and peace activists—was criminalised under the 2023 Public Order Act. In this XR Midlands action, the protesters chained themselves to each other and the centre’s gates, symbolising how private individuals are linked, whether they like it or not, with war crimes, profiteering and environmental damage through the arms trade in the Midlands.
Rajan Naidu (Selly Oak Quakers) commented:
“We have been informed, three days before the verdict was due on Monday 3rd March, that we have been found innocent of all charges brought against us by the Crown Prosecution Service.
Some of us would have liked to hear the verdict in court but, anyhow, this outcome is a full vindication of XR’s action – our act of peaceful civil resistance to the Global Arms Trade responsible for significant, dangerous levels of carbon emissions and other forms of pollution and environmental destruction that are very rarely calculated or published by governments.
The global arms trade and the horror of modern warfare, serviced by events like SDSC-UK’s Telford Arms Fair, underpin and guarantee armed conflict without end,and actively and tragically effectively eclipse countless emergent initiatives of peace. The arms trade devastates lands, ecologies, rips to pieces and traumatises communities and nations, disrupts normal life and economic activity and instigates new forms of economic – and other forms of colonialisation. Andrew Feinstein, author of The Shadow World and world expert on the global arms trade, sent us a letter, that was read by the judge, of total support for our action.
Our case turned out to be, in effect, a test case of what constitutes “serious disruption” under the new Public Order Act 2023. The police interpretation of our action and the subsequent Crown Prosecution case against us was found to be severely wanting.”
Campaigners from Stop SDSC-UK/Stop the Telford Arms Fair have sent a letter to Telford International Centre’s Chief Executive Officer Alison Griffin, copying in newly appointed PR Executive Helen Roffe, urging them to cease hosting the annual SDSC-UK (Strategic Defence and Security Convention) known as Telford Arms Fair.