East London anti-arms campaigners have joined a call to action against an arms fair planned for September next year at the ExCeL Centre.

Stop the Arms Fair, a coalition of national and local community organisations, has pledged to resist the return of DSEI - Defence Security & Equipment International – one of the world’s largest arms fairs.

Campaigners are calling for a massive day of action on September 10 if it goes ahead.

Stop the Arms Fair campaigners said: “We resist the arms fair because...when the people of Egypt took to the streets calling for an end to military rule they faced weapons made and sold by the companies that exhibited at DSEi.

The repressive regimes that gunned down democracy protesters on the streets of Libya and Bahrain were courted and equipped at DSEi.

The world needs more healthcare and education, not more weapons.

Conflict and destruction around the world are fuelled from here, and repression is supported, promoted and sold here.

We cannot let this go unchallenged. We will resist the arms fair in our local communities and in London.”

East London Against Arms Fairs (ELAAF), a member of Stop the Arms Fair, has also voiced its opposition to the biennail arms fair which regularly attracts hundreds of exhibitors and thousands of visitors from across the world.

It was last staged in September 2011 and was greeted with protests as it has been every time it has been held in Newham since 2001.