Issue: 2465

"When I pass protesters every day at Downing Street, and believe me, you name it, they protest against it, I may not like what they call me, but I thank God they can. That's called freedom." (Tony Blair, 7 April 2002.)

On Saturday 13 August, shoppers in Brighton town centre witnessed the extent to which our right to protest is being curtailed, when a peaceful demonstration against arms manufacturer EDO was abruptly halted by police using heavy-handed tactics.

The G8 coincided with Spain's most famous fiestas at San Fermin in which youths dressed in white with red neckerchiefs run with bulls in the streets of Pamplona.

There were solidarity pickets outside Tesco stores up and down Britain on 4 August after two Polish agency workers were sacked.

The largest traveller dwelling in the UK is under threat following a decision by Basildon Council to evict all 220 caravans from the site.

International activists taking peaceful action against the Alcoa Dam in Iceland are at risk of being deported from the country following the passing of a new law which came into force on 13 August.

In a court hearing on 25 July, the Peace Tax Seven, who are seeking to direct their income taxes to non-military purposes, were once again denied permission for a full hearing in Britain.

For several years a consortium consisting of Shell, Statoil, and Marathon have attempted to build an unprecedented high-pressure up-stream raw gas pipeline going 9 kilometres inland to a refinery in Erris, Mayo, in the north-west of Ireland.

On 10 August, gay Turkish conscientious objector Mehmet Tarhan was sentenced to 4 years imprisonment on two charges of insubordination.

"Czechtek", the electronic music festival that takes place annually in the Czech Republic, was recently brought to a violent end when over 1000 heavily armed riot police moved in and attacked revellers.

As PN went to press, activists were gearing up for a week of direct action against the largest weapons fair in the world: DSEi (Defence Systems and Equipment International).

On the basis of the official invitations from previous DSEi exhibitions, we can say with certainty that representatives from countries engaged in conflict, with poor human rights records and with major development needs will all be in attendance a

In 2003, the global arms trade was worth around $40 billion. As in any trade, the deals which make up this figure are facilitated by bringing together potential buyers and sellers.

One group has been working with the local community to raise awareness about the arms fair and to keep up the pressure on the organisers.

Regardless of the outcome of our protests at this year's DSEi, we want to make sure that the arms fair doesn't come back to London in 2007. The DSEi organisers have booked themselves into the ExCel Centre biennially until 2011.