Burghfield atomic bomb factory blockade planned

www.getreading.co.uk

By Linda Fort

Action AWE planning ‘lock-down’ demonstration at AWE Burghfield

Protesters blockade one of the roads leading to AWE at Burghfield in 2013

Anti-nuke protesters are planning a lock-down protest at Burghfield bomb factory next week.

The demonstrators are hoping to stop the work at the atomic weapons establishment - AWE plc - from 7am on Monday, March 2.

They are planning to block all routes in and out of the bomb factory in order to bring work on Trident warheads to a halt.

Hundreds of protesters are expected to attend the blockade which they say will be peaceful.

The protesters known as Action AWE say nuclear weapons will be a key General Election issue.

In 2016 the Government is expected to decide whether to spend more than £100 billion on a new generation of Trident nuclear weapons for the next 50 years. Opponents are undertaking a series of peaceful actions next month aimed at raising public and political awareness of the costs and consequences of nuclear weapons.

A naked protest outside the main gate of AWE Burghfield in 2013

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

Tuuli Vuori, who is making the journey 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.”

Protestors in blockade at AWE Burghfield in 2013

The Burghfield lock-down 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 in 2015 and up to the 2016 decision on Trident replacement.

Source: http://www.getreading.co.uk/news/local-news/burghfield-atomic-bomb-factory-blockade-8705189