So, that's the maker of the event saying we could participate. We were originally informed that we didn't have to sign up, but that changed and we didn't notice. Our bad on that one, sorry to all involved for that.
Now, onto the argument of ganking / ruining the event / et cetera:
This is a trade summit, between two foreign groups, happening not two jumps from Dryden Base. Xenos, being informed about this through [insert RP reason here], decide to deal with it because in their roleplay, they'd really hate these two massive foreign groups having trade talks right outside their door.
Now, onto the argument of "ganking". From my screenshots, I'm estimating about 15-20 transports, snubs, gunboats, et cetera, as well as a battleship and the imperial Yacht. Now, onto the Xeno side, we had three XA- tagged Rocs, an XA- tagged Eagle, and an indie Raven's Talon. If a 5 v 15 is considered a gank, then I sincerely apologize for ruining your day. But if you're going to fly a pure 5k transport in an event where pirates are encouraged to attend, you aggress against the Xenos before they even engage you specifically, and then you get blown up because of that very reason, and THEN you begin to complain on the forums about a supposed "gank" - that's just bad form.