Burghfield atomic bomb factory anti-nuke demonstration

Protesters from across Europe forming human barricades in the roads to the bomb factory

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Protesters began demonstrating at the Burghfield atomic bomb factory this morning from 5am.

Demonstrators from across Europe joined the anti-nuclear protest under the banner Action Atomic Weapons Eradication.

The aim of the protest is to block the entrance roads to the site using the lock-down method locking protesters to each other.

Next year the Government is expected to decide whether to spend more than £100 billion on a new generation of its Trident nuclear weapons.

The blockaders are aiming to raise public and political awareness of the costs and consequences of nuclear weapons.

The Burghfield Lockdown marks the start of a month of action organised by the Action AWE campaign.

Andrew Dey from Yorkshire, one of the blockaders, said: “It’s time for Britain to join other UN nations in negotiating an international nuclear ban treaty.

“We’re not calling for AWE Burghfield or Aldermaston to be immediately shut down. We’re calling for the manufacture and modernisation of nuclear weapons of mass destruction to end. The bases can be used for disarmament purposes, employees need not lose their jobs. The reality of a so called ‘nuclear deterrent’ is that nuclear armed submarines patrol globally – ready to fire 24/7 with the ability to wipe out cities almost anywhere on earth within 15 minutes, at a cost of billions which should be spent on the NHS.”

Campaigners from Finland, Sweden, Spain, France and Belgium have travelled to join the blockade.

Ruka Toivonen from Finland said: “We don’t want to suffer nuclear winter and radiation caused by British or other nuclear weapons. We support Scotland’s right to become nuclear free, and call on the UK to cancel Trident, stop threatening the world with accidental or intentional nuclear disaster, and support negotiations to ban and eliminate all nuclear weapons.”

The Burghfield Lockdown is the latest in a series of escalating protests at nuclear weapons bases in England and Scotland timed to increase pressure on politicians campaigning for election this year and up to 2016 for the decision on Trident replacement.

http://www.getreading.co.uk/news/local-news/burghfield-atomic-bomb-factory-anti-nuke-8749264