Local Editor
Activists in the UK held a protest on Wednesday outside the Grosvenor House Hotel in London demonstrating against the sales of British weapons to Saudi Arabia.
The protest, dubbed “Arms Dealers Feast While Yemen Is Starved”, was organized by Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) and Stop The Arms Fair.
The Aerospace, Defence and Security (ADS) and Space Trade Association in the UK hosted a “prestigious black tie event” bringing arms dealers, MPs and military personnel together “to schmooze, swill champagne, and feast on expensive food”.
Speaking about the Saudi-led war on Yemen, CAAT insisted “We will not let those profiting from and enabling this war celebrate unchallenged. Their trade causes death, starvation and devastation across the world, and particularly in Yemen.”
Prices range from £2,200 for a table for ten (members’ price) to £10,000 for a “branding sponsorship package” for the sold-out event. Attendees will be treated to a drinks reception upon arrival followed by a three-course meal. International Trade minister (and former chair of the BBC Trust) Rona Fairhead and former home secretary Alan Johnson were speakers.
Meanwhile, 14 million people are at risk of famine in Yemen, including 5.2 million children. But despite several countries (including Germany) pledging not to sell any more arms to the Saudi regime, the UK continues.
CAAT explained “the war in Yemen has caused the worst humanitarian crisis in the world. More than 85,000 children under the age of 5 have died from malnutrition. The fighting and the Saudi-imposed blockade have caused a cholera outbreak that has affected over 1.2million people.”
“The UK government is directly involved in causing this suffering. It has licensed almost £5billion of weaponry to the Saudi regime since the bombing began in 2015. UK-made planes are dropping UK-made bombs in Yemen,” it said, laying the blame at the British government.
Protesters have previously targeted arms trade dinners.
Arms dealers’ dinners are one of the few times campaigners can come face to face with the people making money from death and destruction; the people making a profit from killing.
Source: Yemenwatch.net
