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The two companies were told to leave, allegedly for breach of contract, by Reed Elsevier, organisers of the fair.
Last night BCB denied selling leg irons. Andrew Howell, its managing director, said the organisers had "misinterpreted" equipment in their catalogue, adding they were not advertising leg irons but "lefs" or the "light extendable flexible" cuff used to restrain hands.
Mr Howell said a DVD promoting his firm's equipment, which contained a photograph of the cuff, was 10 years old. He said ejection from the trade exhibition was "totally unfair", and that his firm had been questioned by Customs yesterday.
A representative of Famous Glory Holding made no comment.
Both the government and Reed Elsevier have been trying to improve the image of the arms exhibition. Arms companies this year were told not to show off cluster weapons which, while not illegal, are widely condemned because many of the unexploded "bomblets" they scatter over a wide area maim and kill civilians.
At least one company was told not to promote its cluster bombs at the fair despite its strong attempts to do so.
Whitehall last year altered the rules to allow the export of leg irons, cuffs and shackles if such equipment's chains are between 240mm-280mm (9in-11in) long. However, the Foreign Office website lists a range of equipment which it says the government wants to control as a matter of policy. It includes "stun guns and tasers, and specially designed components for such devices, leg irons, gang chains, shackles (excluding normal handcuffs) and electric-shock belts designed for the restraint of a human being".
Scores of demonstrators, with drums and trumpets, some from the Campaign Against Arms Trade, marched to the exhibition's site. A group of up to 20 protesters taking part in a sit-in outside the Docklands' ExCel centre were arrested on suspicion of a breach of the peace.
Several countries with bad human rights records, including Libya, Saudi Arabia, China, and Indonesia, were invited to attend the event this year.
Mark Thomas, the comedian, political activist and investigative journalist, said: "I just wanted to thank the police for providing this level of protection against those evil thugs across the road."
He added: "It is an illegal fair in respect that illegal activities take place there."
A spokesman for Reed Elsevier said: "We run DSEi along very strict guidelines, and take any alleged breach of these extremely seriously. We investigated these allegations as soon as we received them, referred the matter to the appropriate government authorities and took steps to close the stands in question immediately."
This year Reed Elsevier announced that it planned to sell the event after journalists from The Lancet, one of its publications, urged the company to end its connection with the arms fair. F&C Asset Management and the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust both sold shares in Reed in protest over its connection to the arms trade.
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Guardian Unlimited
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