Pro-Palestine activists in UK protest outside international arms fair at Twickenham Stadium

Pro-Palestine activists gathered outside an international arms fair at Twickenham rugby stadium on Monday to protest against the sale of weapons to Israel's "apartheid" forces. 

Members of the Richmond and Kingston Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) joined other campaigners to rally outside the entrance of the International Armoured Vehicles Conference, which describes itself as an international meeting place for the "armoured community". 

The event, taking place from January 24 to 27, will reportedly be attended by senior members of the British armed forces as well as representatives from Israeli defence companies. 

The PSC said it will feature "a range of companies supplying Israel with weapons, components, and military technology to oppress Palestinians". 

Today, Richmond & Kingston PSC and others are protesting the International Armoured Vehicles arms fair, taking place at the @RFU-owned Twickenham Stadium over the next 3 days (1/4) pic.twitter.com/yCC5HJVB2K

— PSC (@PSCupdates) January 24, 2022

The organisation posted on social media that Elbit Systems, an Israeli weapons maker, and Caterpillar, which is accused of supplying Israeli forces with bulldozers used to destroy Palestinian homes, would attend.  

It slammed the Rugby Football Union for hosting the fair, stating they "should not be using the stadium to host events where human rights abusing states hobnob with companies that sell them weapons". 

The New Arab could not find the event listed on the stadium’s "What’s on" page. 

Elbit did not respond to a question on whether it would attend the fair. 

Events taking place at the arms fair include "Lethality beyond line of sight - ending the battle before it begins" hosted by Gillon Shaer, a director at Israeli defence company Rafael.