Bae Annual General Meeting

April 28th saw another successful AGM action from anti-arms trade campaigners. Between 70 and 100 people were carried out after a first bout of major disruption at the start.

The company decided to persevere with the meeting, and other shareholders asked pertinent questions of the board for three hours. Campaign Against the Arms Trade’s major scoop centred around a contract which BAe has won to run a high explosive production plant in the US. The plant will produce RDX, a component of landmines. Now the US has not signed the Ottowa Convention banning the production of landmines, but CAAT believes that it is illegal under the convention and in British law for a British company to be involved in this sort of activity in another country. BAe’s response was that they had no knowledge of the project and so couldn’t answer questions about its legality.

Another arms trade company, Alvis, held their AGM on the same day, presumably to avoid protesters. However, it didn’t work. Seven people occupied their offices at 8.30 in the morning, catching a bit of more intimate questioning with chairman Nick Press before he left Their building was scaled to hang a banner and there was also a presence inside their AGM Contact: CAAT 0171 28 1 0297