Edinburgh Stop the War is supporting the protest called by the Campaign Against the Arms Trade and Edinburgh Peace and Justice Centre on Wednesday 19^th April at the Scottish Parliament. The protest highlights the role that Scottish firms play in the production of the arms that are currently devastating the Yemen.

The protest is taking place at a very critical time. Sixteen years of the so-called war on terror has left the world a more dangerous place. In the last few days we have seen the Trump administration’s use of cruise missiles in Syria, and the grotesque use of the MOAB bomb in Afghanistan plus the threat of conflict in Korea.

We were told that bombing campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan were a necessary part of humanitarian intervention. In country after country the result of intervention can be counted in hundreds of thousands of dead and maimed and millions displaced from their homes.

Britain has not only been a participant in many of these interventions and the number one supporter of the US – it is also the second biggest supplier of arms in the world. Theresa May has followed in David Cameron’s footsteps as an enthusiastic salesperson for British arms – most recently in Saudi Arabia – where the arms are contributing to untold horror in the Yemen as millions are made homeless and living with famine.

Edinburgh Stop the War coalition is campaigning for an end to all the bombing, an end to all military interventions and an end to all arms sales. We believe that a mass campaign to force politicians onto a new course has never been more necessary.