Nuclear weapons protests at AWE

The first Aldermaston March organised by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament took place at Easter 1958, when several thousand people marched for four days from Trafalgar Square, London, to the Atomic Weapons Research Establishmentclose to Aldermaston in Berkshire, England, to demonstrate their opposition to nuclear weapons. The Aldermaston marches continued into the late 1960s when tens of thousands of people took part in the four-day marches.^[103]

One significant anti-nuclear mobilization in the 1980s was the Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp. It began in September 1981 after a Welsh group called “Women for Life on Earth” arrived at Greenham to protest against the decision of the Government to allow cruise missiles to be based there. The women’s peace camp attracted significant media attention and “prompted the creation of other peace camps at more than a dozen sites in Britain and elsewhere in Europe”. In December 1982 some 30,000 women from various peace camps and other peace organisations held a major protest against nuclear weapons on Greenham Common.

On 1 April 1983, about 70,000 people linked arms to form a human chain between three nuclear weapons centres in Berkshire. The anti-nuclear demonstration stretched for 14 miles along the Kennet Valley.

In London, in October 1983, more than 300,000 people assembled in Hyde Park. This was “the largest protest against nuclear weapons in British history”, according to the New York Times.

Aldermaston Women’s Peace Camp and Campaign was established in 1985, the camp and campaign continues today and remains a symbol of resistance to nuclear madness - and British-manufactured weapons of mass destruction in particular.

Trident Ploughshares is a campaign to disarm the UK Trident nuclear weapons system in a non-violent, open, peaceful and fully accountable manner. Its members have taken action at AWE Aldermaston on various occasions since its formation in 2000.

Newly opened Gateway to Peace Garden, 2005

CND has campaigned and supported others campaigning at Aldermaston since the 1950s.

Greenpeace have held protests at AWE and continue to campaign against nuclear weapons.

Block the Builders held blockades at AWE from 2005-9, disrupting the development of the Orion laser

Various individuals and small groups have carried out direct protest actions and vigils at AWE over many years. Vine and Figtree activists gardeners were arrested and jailed for their planting activities in 2005.

Also in 2005 in Britain, there were many protests about the government’s proposal to replace the aging Trident weapons systemwith a newer model. The largest protest had 100,000 participants and, according to polls, 59 percent of the public opposed the move.

In October 2008 in the United Kingdom, more than 30 people were arrested during one of the largest anti-nuclear protests at the Atomic Weapons Establishment at Aldermaston for 10 years. The demonstration marked the start of the UN World Disarmament Week and involved about 400 people.