Protest at the Home Office’s repression exhibition

Protest at the Home Office’s repression exhibition

Mar09

When: March 9, 2016

Join us for a protest vigil outside the UK Home Office to protest against the corporations profitting from the suffering of migrants. 
You can RSVP and find more information here. 

Bring your banners and chants. We’ll start at 5pm sharp to make sure we are there when Home Office staff are leaving for the day. We’ll be sharing stories of state repression and militarised policing from people who have been impacted in different ways. At 5.45pm we will have a vigil and lay candles and symbols in tribute to victims of state repression and militarised policing.

From 8-10 March the Home Office, along with the arms industry trade body ADS, are organising “Security and Policing 2016”. They are offering a “discreet environment” for 400 companies who supply police, prisons and the Ministry of Defence to exhibit “the latest developments in the UK security market”. The government’s arms sales unit, UKTI DSO, is responsible for inviting international delegations. Last year, visitors browsed the stands of major weapons manufacturers such as BAE Systems and Heckler & Koch, and surveillance companies such as Gamma Group and The Hacking Team.

Why we have a problem with it: These are the people who are making a profit from the current refugee crisis with their security fences and detention centres. These are the companies benefitting from the UK’s increasingly militarised policing; These are the businesses that thrive every time David Cameron uses “counter-terrorism” measures to clamp down on our civil liberties. These are the ones who win when the lines between policing, security and the military are blurred.

The heavy policing of borders, militarisation of police and increased military spending do not improve security. They make the world a more dangerous place. MPs voted to bomb Syria; British bombs are being dropped in Yemen right now and the UK is exporting repression by inviting human rights-abusing regimes like Saudi Arabia to shop for weapons at events like Security and Policing.