Recent anti-war actions have been happening all over the country this week. Monday March 17th was called by ARROW (Active Resistance to the Roots of War) as a national day of Die-In's. These happened in town centres, government offices and military bases across the country, against war on Iraq. In London, staff arriving at the MoD on Whitehall were met at the entrance by ARROW protestors on the steps, covered in fake blood painted and with 'No War' on the MOD pillars pics + uk reports list. They later went to Downing Street, where they staged another 'die-in'. Elsewhere in London, twenty people disrupted the trading floor of the International Petroleum Exchange in the city of London while others outside held a banner reading 'Oil Fuels War'. Two people barricaded themselves inside an office till the police removed and arrested them. In Sheffield, Women Against war and Sheffield ARROW pledge group staged a die-in outside the Armed Forces Careers Office [Report 1 | 2].

Later the same day in Scotland, anti-war protesters, including many school students on strike against the war, stormed Edinburgh Castle and blocked the entrance, later leaving to block the main street with a sit-in protest.

In Portsmouth, 600 people marched through the streets and proceeded to 'Disgrace the Base' by blockading Unicorn Gate, the main accesses to Portsmouth naval base and the junction adjoining the base. There were 3 arrests reported for obstruction of the highway. At a Leeds Anti-War Demo on the 15th March, thousands marched through the streets of Leeds to oppose war [Pictures].

Additional reporting from Pledge of Resistance: In Southampton, 45 people staged a die-in outside the offices of Vosper Thorneycroft, warship and military equipment manufacturer and closed the gates for 1 hour. In Oxford, 100 people took part in a die-in at Cornmarket. Other die-ins in Birmingham, Hastings, Norwich, USAF Molesworth in Cambridgeshire, Aberystwyth, Cambridge, Penzance and Scarborough.

At RAF Fairford, on the 17th March, over 100 women many of them grandmothers, blockaded the main entrance to Fairford airbase causing disruption to the normal operation as the USAF prepares for war. That follows an action on March 14th where two Trident Ploughshares activists disabled around 30 vehicles which provide essential support to the US B52 bombers stationed there.

In a news update the two Trident Ploughshares protesters who gained access to HMS Vanguard in November were given conditional discharges last Friday. An update on Fairford, as of March 8th 03, for 28 days Fairford (and Gloucestershire and Wiltshire) is subject to stop and search powers under Section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000. This is the first time these powers have ever been used. Make sure you check out Fairford legal briefings.