Stop selling arms to Israeli regime: London protesters
Peace activists have staged a rally in the British capital London to protest against an arms fair due to be held next week, urging the international community to stop selling weapons to such regimes as Israel, Press TV reports.
On Monday, people set up a blockade outside the ExCel center in London Docklands, where thousands of global arms firms will gather next week to attend the Defense & Security Equipment International (DSEI) fair, one of the largest of its kind in the world.
The protesters condemned the arms fair, saying such events just provide the Israeli regime and the likes of it with instruments to perpetrate atrocities against civilians.
The focus of today’s protest is "stop arming Israel," Lyn Bliss from “Campaign Against Arms Trade” told Press TV, lashing out at the international community for “turning a blind eye to what's going on and the fate of the Palestinians.”
It is “disgusting” to hold such arms fairs in which weapons are sold “to the most terrible dictators and countries,” she added.
Tel Aviv is under fire by rights groups for its indiscriminate attacks against Palestinian civilians. In one instance of Israel’s brutality, at least 2,140 Palestinians, including 557 children, lost their lives during the regime’s offensive against the Gaza Strip last summer.
The aggression also left 11,100 Palestinians wounded, including 3,374 children and 2,088 women, and displaced over 170,000 others.
Another protester also censured the world powers for producing and selling weapons, saying such policies have caused wars in different parts of the world and thus should be blamed for the current refugee crisis.
“There are 1,000 exhibitors and 30,000 visitors [in the arms fair], many from countries with appalling human rights records,” he told Press TV correspondent, adding that the arms sales “will go to fuel the conflicts which are driving the refugee crisis.”
The United Nations estimates 366,000 people have left the war-ridden countries of Middle East and North Africa for Europe this year, but 2,600 have died in the attempt, the majority of whom during dangerous voyages across the Mediterranean in rickety boats.
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