In words and pictures: protesters picket arms dealer dinner

On Tuesday evening 27 January, anti-genocide demonstrators protested at a dinner for arms dealers in London. The demo was organised by CAAT, the Campaign Against the Arms Trade. Police arrested several peaceful protesters.

Tonight! Join us from 6pm to protest the grotesque arms dealer dinner where arms dealers and military personnel will dine on expensive food and toast their deadly trade. We will not let those profiting from and enabling war to celebrate in peace pic.twitter.com/qHLJQPHfpK

— London CAAT (@londoncaat) January 27, 2026

Activist photographer ‘BetterThanReal’ was there and kindly provided images for Skwawkbox and the Canary. Their description of events at the demo follows the image set.

There was a lively demonstration outside the Marriott Hotel on Park Lane, central London on Tues Jan 27. It was the annual ‘Arms Dealer Dinner’, a reminder that London continues to be a centre for the bloody global arms trade.

Demonstrators shouted their disapproval at the profiteers of genocide and global wars.

The police turned up in large numbers to hold their line across several street entrances to the hotel, with crowd surges and scuffles as dinner attendees showed their credentials and were hurried through behind lines of police and hotel security, while demonstrators shouted to shame them. As a stream of well-heeled diners showed their credentials and were smuggled into the venue, activists across the generations gave them a warm welcome – and they did seem ashamed as they averted their gazes from the demonstrators and hurried into the safety of the hotel.

After a 6pm start the demonstrators dispersed around 90 minutes later, leaving lines of police outside the venue to survey the now empty street. There were two arrests, we don’t yet know the reasons and whether they are still being held.

Featured image via BetterThanReal