Cardiff Anarchists invade BAE arms factory, 1/3/03
GG | 03.03.2003 11:21
Activists from the Cardiff Anarchist Network took part in the Campaign Against the Arms Trade’s demonstration at the BAE Systems munitions factory at Glascoed, Gwent, on Saturday, March 1st. The group of activists were met at the rear perimeter fence by one lone private security guard who promised that they would be ‘hurt’ if they came over the fence. Despite the rather pathetic attempt at intimidation, seven of the group easily scaled the fence with the help of a home-made rope ladder, and dressed in the appropriate white overalls, proceeded to make an inspection of the site. After splitting up into three different groups, one pair were followed around the woods for half an hour by the security guard and a policeman, while another group managed to penetrate to the centre of the site, entering factory buildings and then locking themselves to some doors. The most imaginative weapons inspector managed to evade detection for more than an hour, running around a site that manufactures everything from bullets to depleted uranium shells. After the police finally managed to escort all the ‘inspectors’ from the site, the activists returned and proceeded to cut several large holes in the chain-link fence that ‘protects’ the high security site from intruders. Three of the group again gained entry to the site, but this time the reaction was more aggressive, with one person punched by a private security guard and wrestled to the ground in a choke-hold that nearly left him unconscious. One of the activists was arrested and taken to Abergavenny police station, but later released without further action, as BAE did not wish to press charges. Lesson? The arms trade is so ashamed of the bloody business of death & destruction in which they deal that they are scared even to prosecute a rag-tag bunch of anarchist protestors for trespass and criminal damage, fearing the negative publicity that it would garner them. Lessons for us all? Don’t be scared of fences – jump ‘em and expose the dirty dealings of BAE! Cardiff Anarchist Network: http://us.geocities.com/bozavine/can/ CAAT: http://www.caat.org.uk/campaigns/site-unseen/introduction.php
GG
e-mail:
bozavine@yahoo.co.uk
Homepage:
http://us.geocities.com/bozavine/can/
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04.03.2003 10:44
Around 50 people took part in the protest, with representatives from Gwent Peace and Justice, Penarth Christian CAAT, Cardiff Anarchist Network and Plaid Cymru all present. Some attendees took the part of Weapons Inspectors and demanded access to the site. When BAe security stonily refused, some inspectors went over the fence, only to be ejected by the police.
The Glascoed site is one of the Royal ordnance factories and its presence in Usk, goes back many, many years. BAe Systems took over Royal ordnance in 1987 and merged it with Marconi's Land Systems division to create Royal ordnance defence. ROD has 3,500 spread across 14 sites in the UK, the US and Europe. We understand that around 400 people work at RO Glascoed.
RO Glascoed's main activity is the filling and packing, and supplying of finished munitions. Of course in the language of the 'defence ' industry they are not bombs and shells but "lethal package technologies". In other words, several of the other RO and indeed BAe sites produce components or parts of weapons which are then shipped to Glascoed to be filled with explosives and fuses. Royal ordnance signed an exclusive deal with the UK MOD in 1999 to supply ammunition - its estimated that the company supplies around £100m of ammunition to the MoD each year - much if not most of that will pass through Glascoed. BAe also boasts on its website that it supplies munitions and small arms to more than 50 other countries although it is reluctant to say which these countries are.
The type of weapons that are assembled at Glascoed include tank shells, mortar shells, small arms ammunition, missile and torpedo warheads, (including Hellfire missiles used on the Apache Attack helicopters), depth charges and warheads for MLRS (such as RAYO - a 'poor mans version' being jointly developed by BAE with Chile - it was this system that Pinochet was coming to see when he was arrested a couple of years ago.
Should also say a word about Depleted Uranium. There has been a great deal of concern about the use of depleted Uranium ammunition. An army medical report from 1997 stated that inhalation or ingestion of even small amounts of dust from exploded or burned Depleted Uranium could lead to cancer. DU is suspected to be a contributor to "Gulf War Syndrome". Glascoed assembled the 120mm Challenger 2 Tank shells including the Depleted Uranium penetrator. DU is used because it is extremely dense and penetrates through armoured tanks. The problem is that tanks usually exploded and burn after that have been attacked and this cause the DU to burn and spread over a great distance and it can then be breathed in Academic reports suggest that around 400 tonnes of DU was used in Iraq in the gulf war of 91 and about 40 tonnes in Yugoslavia. As far as we can tell all UK DU penetrators would have come through Glascoed. BAe now insists that they are no longer manufacturing DU penetrator for the Challenger tank.
Whilst some of the other RO sites are being threatened with closure, it seems that BAE sees a bright future for Glascoed as it says it is investing significant sums of money in the site. To continue to produce "lethal; package technologies" for years to come.
Our public meeting in the evening went very well with local people planning an number of initiatives, including street stalls in Cardiff city centre, a further protest on Maundy Thursday and an investigation into the levels of safety surrounding the transportation of munitions to and from Glascoed site.
no war