Last Sunday (23rd March) saw a worldwide solidarity event against drone warfare, “Fly Kites Not Drones”. To coincide with Afghan new year, anti-war groups took their kites and banners and demonstrated not just outside RAF Waddington – from where UK drones are controlled - but in towns around the UK including Brighton, Edinburgh, Bristol, Hastings, Cardiff and Oxford.

Unless you've been hiding under a rock, you've probably read about the expansion of the UK drones programme and the reports on just how many innocent civilians have been remotely killed by the inaccurate death machines. According to Voices for Creating Non-Violence UK, there have by now been 547 drone attacks on Afghanistan so far – making it the drone capital of the world. The Bureau of Investigative Journalism continues to document lesser-known drone destinations such as Yemen and Somalia, while Corporate Watch are upping the ante in their campaign to publicise drone attacks in Gaza.

The demo in Brighton had a particular bone to pick: as noted by anti-warmongerers Smash Edo, the drone wars are directly linked with Brighton arms factory EDO-MBM, who helped in the research of armed drones.

We had an interview with an Anonymous attendee who gave us all the details...

 “From the start of the day it was fairly mild with acoustic music, nice food and flyering. Then as it got further into the day the wind picked up (which enabled some kite flying). Then there was a surprise visit from a drone which decided to surveillance the park but unfortunately was beaten by kites in terms of fly height. To finish off the day we had some music play from the amp, Lowkey being a popular demand which followed by a call for a smash EDO family photo.”

We've been assured that the drone flying low over Brighton's Level was not in fact real, but was a darn good replica.  

Want to get involved in local action against the manufacturing and use of drones?

Smash EDO