For the 100th anniversary of World War I, activists in Brussels held an alternative remembrance ceremony and put up posters around the city to highlight Belgium and Europe’s complicity in current wars through the arms trade.

In 2017, the Walloon government approved over 150 million euros worth of licences of arms to Saudi Arabia – namely small arms, munitions and armoured vehicles.

Stop the militarisation of Europe!

Brussels is the European capital of lobbying and is home to the world’s larges arms companies who influence Europe’s security and border policies. With the setting up of a European Defence Fund, the EU wants to spend 13 billion euros on the research and development of new weapons. The Fund will likely increase European arms exports which will only fuel more conflict.

The activists held a minute’s silence for all vicitims of wars, and the people who have fleeing conflicts and because of Europe’s border regime.

To really say ‘Never Again’, European countries need to stop fuelling war and its security policy should not be dictated by the companies who profit from conflict.