UK: Protest calls for end to arm sales to UAE and Saudi Arabia

Record ID: 1905883

  • Title: UK: Protest calls for end to arm sales to UAE and Saudi Arabia
  • Date: 12th July 2020
  • Summary: SHOTLIST: 1 VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS MARCHING, CHANTING, SOME CARRYING YEMENI FLAGS 2 PROTESTERS MARCHING, CHANTING “NO JUSTICE NO PEACE” 3 VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS MARCHING 4 PROTESTERS MARCHING, CHANTING “WHERE IS YOUR HUMANITY” 5 PROTESTERS MARCHING, CHANTING “STOP BOMBING YEMEN” 6 WOMAN CHANTING “CHILDREN ARE DYING; PEOPLE ARE DYING” THROUGH MEGAPHONE, PROTESTERS REPEATING AFTER HER 7 PROTESTERS MARCHING, CHANTING “SAVE YEMEN” 8 PROTESTERS MARCHING, CHANTING 9 PROTESTERS CARRYING CLOTH SIGN OF STOP THE WAR COALITION 10 EMBASSY OF THE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES 11 PROTESTERS OUTSIDE EMBASSY OF THE UAE 12 VARIOUS OF PEOPLE ON STEPS OF EMBASSY SPEAKING TO CROWD THROUGH MEGAPHONE 13 MAN CHANTING “UK IS NOT INNOCENT, UK IS GUILTY” THROUGH MEGAPHONE, OTHERS REPEATING 14 MAN CHANTING THROUGH MEGAPHONE 15 PROTESTERS AT ENTRANCE OF EMBASSY 16 EMBLEM OF EMBASSY COVERED WITH CARDBOARD (2 SHOTS) 17 ENTRANCE OF EMBASSY 18 PROTESTERS AROUND STATUE OF GANDHI CHANTING (2 SHOTS) LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM (JULY 12, 2020) (AAVN-ACCESS ALL) SCRIPT: Hundreds of people on Sunday (July 12) gathered in front of the Embassy of the United Arab Emirates, in central London to call on the British government to end arm sales to the Saudi Kingdom and the UAE. The demonstrators, carrying Yemeni flags and signs chanted “Save Yemen”, “Stop bombing Yemen”, “People are dying, children are dying” during the protest. The protest organized by the Stop the War Coalition took place days after the UK government’s decision to continue arming the Saudi-led coalition. A statement on Stop the War Coalition’s web site said “Anti-war campaigners say Saudi-led intervention in Yemen will only compound existing tensions and violence in the crisis-ridden state.” The anti-war group accuses the Saudi regime of playing a leading role in almost every “anti-democratic development in the Middle East.” On July 7, Britain announced that it will resume arms sales to Saudi Arabia a year after the court of appeal declared the UK government acted unlawfully by selling arms to the kingdom without first assessing whether they were involved in breaches of international humanitarian law. Trade Secretary Liz Truss said in a written statement to parliament that an official government review found that airstrikes in Yemen that breached international humanitarian law were only “isolated incidents.” “The government will now begin the process of clearing the backlog of license applications for Saudi Arabia and its coalition partners that have built up since 20 June last year,” she said. Britain is one of Saudi Arabia’s top arms suppliers. Over the past five years, the UK’s top arms manufacturer, BAE Systems, sold Saudi Arabia £15 billion ($18.8 million) worth of arms. The government review, sparked by the court of appeal’s decisions in June 2019, assessed examples of Saudi airstrikes using British equipment that could have breached international humanitarian law and killed civilians. The arms and equipment sold to the Saudi Kingdom by the U.K. include air-to-air missiles, aircraft components, sniper rifles, anti-riot gear, ballistic shields, and body armor. Yemen has been beset by violence and chaos since 2014, when Houthi rebels overran much of the country, including the capital Sanaa. The crisis escalated in 2015 when a Saudi-led military coalition launched a devastating air campaign aimed at rolling back Houthi territorial gains. Tens of thousands of Yemenis, including civilians, are believed to have been killed in the conflict, which has led to the world’s worst humanitarian crisis as millions remain at risk of starvation. Writing by Karim El-Bar, Sibel Uygun
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  • Copyright Holder: Anadolu Agency
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