Protesters REMOVED from Careers Fair

A group of protesters from the Southampton branch of Campaign Against the Arms Trade (CAAT) were ejected from the Engineering and Technology Careers fair.

The protesters, posing, as they were removed from the fair

The protesters circulated the fair, held in Garden Court on Tuesday 12th of February, and handed out spoof BAe Systems recruitment flyers and other material.

According to CAAT figures, the University of Southampton received over £3.8 million of military funding in the years 2008-11. Southampton has strong links to the military, through its support units and Military Education Committee

One protester told The Tab reporter on scene:

We gave out over 100 flyers and had a pretty good reception

University Security escorted the group from the fair just before 2PM after one of the protesters separated from the group and became disruptive.

The group then continued the protest outside peacefully until they left around 3PM.

The University commented:

We respect the rights of all to express their views in a peaceful and constructive manner on campus. On this occasion we would also thank our visitors who exhibited at the event, which was very well attended by our students.”

Joyce Lewis, Senior Fellow from the Faculty of Physical and Applied Sciences, told The Tab:

We were sorry that a few of our exhibitors’ stands were slightly disrupted by a minor protest at yesterday’s Engineering and Technology Careers Fair. Although we had earlier made it clear that we had no objection to the group distributing campaign literature outside the venue, we had asked them not to carry on their campaign inside. However, their actions were only a very small and quickly  halted disturbance to what was an exceptionally successful occasion and a great endorsement of 80 leading companies’ confidence in the quality of University of Southampton students.’

Were you at the fair? Do you agree with the protesters’ viewpoint? Let us know in the comments.