Results tagged “DSEi”

DOCKLANDS’ controversial arms fair is still up for grabs.

DSEi organiser Reed Elsevier is still talking to interested parties nearly a year after announcing it wanted to sell the international event, which attracts arms traders and governments from around the world to the ExCeL centre every two years. It had hoped to be able to flog the fair by the end of last year.

A spokesman said: “There’s no question of us not selling. It’s just a timing issue.

“We’re committed to getting the maximum value of the fair for shareholders. We’re talking to
interested parties and we’ll make an announcement in due course, but there’s nothing imminent.”

A CATHOLIC priest jailed after a protest at a Docklands arms fair has vowed to continue his fight to shut it down.

Father Martin Newell spilled “rivers of blood” outside the DSEi international trade event at ExCeL London in September to depict the bloodshed caused by the arms trade.

He poured five litres of red paint onto the gangway, while fellow London Catholic Worker member Zelda Jeffers lay next to the fair’s check-in desk covered in red dye.

Fr Newell was sentenced to five days in jail last week after refusing to pay a fine for criminal damage. Ms Jeffers was sentenced to 14 days on Tuesday (March 25).

He said: “To pay this fine would be to co-operate with a system that is fuelling murder and mayhem around the world by promoting and protecting the arms trade.”

The company, recently acquired by a private equity firm for £125million, is tipped to be among the potential bidders for the DSEi arms fair in Docklands, which has been on the market for around eight months.

Clarion’s portfolio of 65 events and conferences includes the parenting show, which will be arriving at the Royal Docks exhibition centre tomorrow (Friday, February 29).

Current arms fair organiser Reed Elsevier had pledged to offload the controversial exhibition by the end of last year, following pressure from pacifist organisations and healthcare groups.