Copex Exhibition

After their disastrous libel action against Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) last year, things could not get any worse for Copex, organizers of the arms fairs specializing in torture instruments, covert and specialist security equipment.

October 1st saw several hundred people blockade Farnborough M.O.D. base all day, listening to victims of British torture equipment tell their stories. One Buddhist monk from Tibet even managed to smuggle electroshock batons from a Chinese jail to bring the results back home.

After arresting 90 people at the Reene Beenee arms fair a month before the police felt less inclined to arrest this time and some demonstrators moved on to blockade other gates and 'ambush' delegates from the usual array of brutal regimes - countries such as Indonesia, Colombia, Turkey and Saudi Arabia, all previous attendees at the Contingent and Operational Procurement Exhibition.

At the end of the day police were hinting that they would not get involved in another Copex in Farnborough, which effectively means they are looking for another new home; their previous 'Torturers' Tesco' , Sandown Park Racecourse, gave them the boot the year before. If Copex continue to suffer from this type of demonstration, they might decide to quit altogether! Contact CAAT 0171 281 0297.