1. Many people outside London and who can't get the time off work during the week can't get to these demos. I am one of these people and as much as I feel passionately against the arms trade, I simply couldn't get to the anti-DSEi demo. London-based organisations seeking to build up an activist base need to recognise that not everyone is a student and that there are people living beyond the city limits. Hey, there are even people in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland! And they actually have opinions!

2. There is not a lot of public knowledge or concern about the arms trade, despite CAAT's best efforts. Whereas anti-capitalist protests are partly fuelled by anti-debt campaigns headed by Bono and Geldoff, the arms trade simply isn't 'cool'. Another issue is that broad 'anti' protests mobilise lots of single issue groups, whereas a single issue protest against the arms trade or concentration camps for asylum seekers is going to attract narrower support and therefore less numbers.

3. Many people have been frightened off by Section 60's imposed in MayDay. No-one wants to be held prisoner without charge for several hours and since the police are using it liberally, lots of people just don't think it's worth the risk.

4. Publicity in the press during the anti-DSEi protest was squashed by the events in the US, even though both issues are linked (although I don't know whether the exhibitors had previously supplied arms to Pakistan and Afghanistan to fight the Soviet occupation). Maybe if the protest had reacted quickly to these events, then such an angle could have been exploited.