FULL CIRCLE DEMONSTRATION, NOTTINGHAM 2008

On Saturday, November 29^th, 2008, FULL CIRCLE took place among the stalls of the annual German Christmas market. This was a demonstration to highlight the links between arms production - especially from Nottingham's very own arms factory, Heckler and Koch - and refugees. FULL CIRCLE is not a difficult proposition; without arms manufacturers, no guns to make war with, therefore no refugees displaced by war. OK, I guess determined mankind would still be able to go at it with hatchets, shotguns, clubs &c, but the wholesale slaughter which can be effected with H&K's efficient products would no longer be possible.

As you can see from the adjacent photos, the demo was a bit lost among all the Christmas shoppers - until some of the protesters lay down "dead" on the Square's expensive but very chilly marble slabs. This created a distinct space which attracted people's attention to the message we were trying to put across. Leaflets were also handed out, but media of any sort stayed in bed. Not even our friends at the Good Old Evening Post turned up - probably all their resources were concentrated on the saucepan that boiled dry in Basford.

One outfit that can be relied on to turn up to any demo to do with H&K, is the police evidence gatherering dudes, with their large, expensive cameras. In the above photo, one can be seen trying to distinguish demonstrators from shoppers.

"Making Nottingham a safer city we're all proud of". So goes the sign on the police van... But we don't feel "safe" or "proud" in a city which is home to arms dealers and where legitimate protest is harrassed by policemen with cameras.

For a report on FULL CIRCLE from Indymedia with photos by Tash, click here.

March, 2009: four people who had been at the November Full Circle demo travelled to Oberndorf in Germany, where H&K has its headquarters. They met German campaigners and joined in a demonstration against H&K which took place in the town. They were astonished to find that - unklike Nottingham - the local media were out in force and the police weren't. About 80 demonstrators were present and about 4 police. At one recent H&K demonstration in Nottingham, there was one vanload of police per demonstrator! Photos below show reporters covering the demonstration and police cars parked in the shade.

Photos of the Oberndorf demo by the estimable Tash and full report can be found on Indymedia... maybe not today, maybe not tomorow, but soon.