Peace Action Wellington

26 people were arrested for protesting the annual Weapons Conference in November 2015. The #StopWeaponsConf days of protest blockaded the entrance of the Wellington council run TSB Arena where arms dealers and NZ Defence Forces met to discuss weapons and war. The conference offered delegates excellent opportunities to ‘speed date’ with their fave arms manufacturer and check out the displays of machine guns, ammo and fun shooting games. It was sponsored by the world’s largest arms company and nuclear warhead manufacturer, Lockheed Martin.

Protesters blocked entrances, interrupted proceedings with noise outside and had a party to disrupt the arms dealers cocktail party and dinner.

The cops as usual stood on the side of cash, violence and the status quo – violently attacking and arresting 27 peaceful protesters. They arrested zero arms dealers.

One protesters’ charge was since dropped but 26 are still being prosecuted. At the first court appearance, back in November, protesters put in an initial plea of NOT GUILTY. Many plan to fight their charges.

The next court date is now coming up – 18th February. Come along and show your solidarity with those protesters who were arrested standing up against the arms dealers and NZDF!

We will be holding a rally outside the court at 8.30am. The hearing is set to be at 10am (though who knows how long they’ll make us wait!) and people should be able to come into the court room as well. If you can’t make it on the day and still want to show your solidarity, please share the event, invite your friends and share/donate to the GiveaLittle page to help with legal costs: https://givealittle.co.nz/cause/stopweaponsconf/

The 27 people arrested blockading the weapons conference in Wellington last week appeared in the Wellington District Court this morning and have said that they will defend the charges against them.

“All of us are firmly of the view that the crimes going on at the weapons conference were the ones inside the where the companies were busy making deals to sell more weapons. The people blockading took non-violent direct action to stop the proliferation of more death and destruction,” said Peace Action Wellington member and arrestee Valerie Morse.

“Following the arrests, most of the people were told that they would be issued with a warning instead of being charged. The police, however, changed their minds and instead decided to charge people with minor offences simply so they could impose bail conditions on them prohibiting them from returning to the TSB Arena where the weapons conference was being held. The police were instrumental in shutting down the right to freedom of speech and protest for all of these people, even though they had done nothing wrong.”

“Many of the arrestees were simply the easiest targets for police because they were standing apart from the main blockade, often out of a desire to avoid being arrested. The police then did not file the charges with the court until today so these restrictive bail conditions could not be challenged while the weapons conference was still going on.”

“This court case is just an attempt to silence people and intimidate them into not participating in political activity.”

“The campaigns against the weapons conference and NZ’s participation in the now 14-year-old war on terrorism will continue. Einstein said, ‘We cannot simultaneously prepare and prevent war’ and yet world leaders seem to think that they can bomb the world to peace.”

The next court date is Monday, 18 February at 10am.

What an awesome week in the campaign to Stop the Weapons Conference!

We had a big day on Tuesday; we prevented and impeded lots of the delegates from getting inside the weapons conference, and disrupted their opening speeches with noise outside. The Minister of Defence Gerry Brownlee was forced to try and justify the conference, which is a good sign that we’re winning!

A total of 27 people were arrested by the police for being willing to put their bodies on the line to stop the international arms trade. These people were all given a bail condition not to go within 100 metres of the TSB Arena, effectively denying them all the right to freedom of expression at the Wednesday night event.

Last night, the Block Party went on for three hours, disrupting the conference dinner and awards ceremony. The police arrested two people.

All of the arrestees will appear at the Wellington District Court on Monday, 23 November at 9am.

Will you please:

1. Join us for a Solidarity Picket outside the District Court (Balance Street) to support the arrestees on Monday, 23 November at 8:30am. We’ll have some banners and placards.

2. Make a donation to our legal support fund: Peace Action Wellington Kiwibank Account: 38-9007-0839416-00 – reference “legal”. Thank you in advance for any donation you are able to afford.

We invite you to get involved in Peace Action Wellington; we have fortnightly meetings at 6pm. Email us to find out more: peacewellington@riseup.net  You can also find us on Facebook and follow us on twitter @PeaceactionWGTN.

If you couldn’t join us for our two-day blockade of the ‘Defence Industry Conference’, or want a run-down of the events, check out our Storify timeline with tweets, pictures and videos from those who were there.

We’ve had a big day today blockading the weapons conference – and we’re headed back tomorrow. Please join us after work if you can. The weapons companies are having an awards ceremony for best weapons company & we’ve got a few awards of our own.
So join the party – Wednesday, 6pm at TSB Arena – please bring noisemakers, banners, costumes, music-making and join the block party to block the party.

There were lots of people willing to stand up for peace and justice – and the weapons dealers had a very unwelcome reception and a difficult time getting inside. There were 28 of us arrested today for a variety of charges. If you have any details about the day’s events especially if you saw anyone injured that would be useful for us for our court case, please email peacewellington@riseup.net

We’ll see you on the streets!