Tank sprayed with red paint as protesters disrupt huge arms fair in Paris

[webfact]

Tank sprayed with red paint as protesters disrupt huge arms fair
By Catherine Hardy



"The global defence industry has never seen growth like that between 2014 and 2015"

No recession in the global arms trade
France to overtake Russia for second place
Middle East is the biggest market
Protesters disrupt trade show

PARIS: -- Dozens of peace campaigners have disrupted the opening of a major arms exhibition in Paris.

Some managed to get inside, throwing red paint over a tank.

What is Eurosatory?
The protest took place on the first day of Eurosatory (in French), billed as the world’s largest international land and air-land defence and security trade show.

The expo:

features the latest land and air-land defence equipment from across the globe
involves 120 different countries
UN, EU and NATO also involved.

The arms industry
The global arms sales industry was worth 65 billion dollars in 2015, according to industry publication Jane’s Defence Weekly.

It is predicted the industry will continue to grow, with France soon overtaking Russia to take second place behind the US.

France has seen an increase in arms sales from 36 to 55 billion dollars between 2014 and 2015.

65 countries analysed for global arms exports
France jumps from 4th to 2nd place – overtaking Russia.
Germany goes from 5th to 3rd place
UK drops one place to 6th

The main importers are:

Saudi Arabia – 1st position (9.3 bn dollars)
India – 2nd (4.3 bn)
Australia – 3rd (2.3 bn)
Egypt – 4th (2.2 bn)
South Korea – 5th (2.18 bn)

What about the protesters?
A handful of demonstrators gathered outside the venue in Paris.

Some managed to get inside.

They threw fake red paint and yellow powder on a French Leclerc tank and an armoured vehicle.

In protest as what they say is an overly-armed world, they formed a human chain and called for peace and an end to arms production.

What they are saying
“It is important for me, because I work in conflict areas where I see the problems of armaments, I see the problems of false security. Security is important, I understand that. People need to feel secure but there are other ways of working and I work a lot with refugees who have suffered because of armaments, things that are being sold here. So I do know that there are alternatives,” said Christopher Hatton, a member of the “Stop Fuelling War” campaign.

“2015 was a record year. The global defence industry has never seen growth like that between 2014 and 2015,” – Ben Moores, Senior Analyst at IHS-Jane’s.

-- (c) Copyright Euronews 2016-06-14

[daveAustin]

Not a great month for gay Paris. I'm sure they'll find some way to pin the respray job on the English.

[shirtless]

I hope these arms manufacturers are paying a pollution tax.

[zaZa9]

Its always been my view that the Arms exporters of the world should be made to be the largest recipients of war refugees. Then even the tax from profits from arms sales is frittered away on the victims resettlement and health care , leaving no net gain from the sale of misery.

[JohnDodd]

With a" War on Terror" and a never ending array of "Terrorist's" these death machines are selling well among the cowardly "Royal" house's of Arabia.

[Rancid]

It fills me with pride to see US lapdog Australia is now the 3rd largest arms importer in the world, we are doing our bit to stimulate the already rampaging US arms industry. Watching the Oz election coverage, I don't see either party (we have the same two heads of the same coin system as US) even mentioning defense, its a done deal.

Our politicians rant about budget deficits and then go and ramp up spending on defense, then cut social, science or infrastructure expenditure to afford them. Haven't even seen a newspaper election article even mentioning defense, how many billions are we yet to spend on that useless F-35 lemon fighter that won't even protect our borders anyway.

So with US nudging, we continue to ramp up the agro against our largest trading partner China, how long till they switch to alternative markets for their raw materials? That will show them not to mess with us...

[Jedsada3]

Saudi Arabia, India, Australia, Egypt, South Korea are the major buyers but are they the final user?

[elgordo38]

Bravo!!

[Morch]

Saudi Arabia, India, Australia, Egypt, South Korea are the major buyers but are they the final user?

Considering the bulk of imports is made of aircraft, naval vessels and other main battle systems - yes, these are the end users.

[spidermike007]

The public doth protest too much, me thinks.

And why not? What is wrong with expressing displeasure at the degree of weapons being sold, and the glorification of the entire process?

The fact that my country is the world's leading manufacturer of these weapon system is not something that fills me with pride.

[halloween]

It fills me with pride to see US lapdog Australia is now the 3rd largest arms importer in the world, we are doing our bit to stimulate the already rampaging US arms industry. Watching the Oz election coverage, I don't see either party (we have the same two heads of the same coin system as US) even mentioning defense, its a done deal.

Our politicians rant about budget deficits and then go and ramp up spending on defense, then cut social, science or infrastructure expenditure to afford them. Haven't even seen a newspaper election article even mentioning defense, how many billions are we yet to spend on that useless F-35 lemon fighter that won't even protect our borders anyway.

So with US nudging, we continue to ramp up the agro against our largest trading partner China, how long till they switch to alternative markets for their raw materials? That will show them not to mess with us...

Yes, why do we need to help our neighbours from oppression and civil war (E. Timor, Solomons) or provide rapid disaster assistance.In fact, why do we need defence forces at all? Just open the gates and let a few hundred million Indonesians walk into the place, we'll hardly notice the difference.

SATIRE.