AWE Aldermaston: Block the Builders Strike Again!
JK | 13.03.2006 09:33 | Anti-militarism | Social Struggles
Despite a massive police presence, including mounted police, around the Atomic Weapons Establishment at Aldermaston, Block the Builders [1 have again managed to interrupt the morning traffic entering the nuclear weapons factory in Berkshire
Six people have been arrested, including four who had "locked-on" to each other in an attempt to block the entrance to the base.
(photos to follow)
Although the group did not manage to stop workers entering the base today, a spokeswoman said, "We're not disappointed. We're here as a visible opposition to the building of the next generation of nuclear weapons here at AWE, and the size of the police presence indicates the level of resources that have to be deployed in order to stop us."
This morning a flustered Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, failed to give a direct reply to John Humphries on the BBC's Radio 4 Today programme, when asked whether the UK was developing a successor to the Trident warhead.
Block the Builders are calling on the government to come clean and admit that the current programme of building works - including on a new laser facility - are designed to equip the UK to build a successor to Trident,as detailed in yesterday's Sunday Times.[2]
The protest was held in advance of the Defence Select Committee's opening session on Tuesday 14 March [3], which is apparently being conducted to inform a decision on the future of the UK nuclear weapons. As far as Block the Builders can see, that decision has already been made, and work has already started.
Contact number: 07969 739 812 or 07887 802 879
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Notes
[1]
http://www.blockthebuilders.org uk
[2] http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-2081800,00.html
[3]The Defence Committee has announced that it will hold a series of inquiries over the course of the current Parliament into the future of the UK’s strategic nuclear deterrent. The first inquiry will focus on the strategic context and the timetable for decision making. It will consider the threats which the strategic nuclear deterrent is currently intended to combat and how this context might change over the next two decades. It will consider what other states or organisations could develop nuclear weapons capabilities by 2025, and how this might affect the strategic context in which decisions on the UK deterrent will be made. And it will consider the timetable in which these decisions will have to be taken and implemented.
http://ww.parliament.uk/parliamentary_committees/defence_committee/def060308___no__25.cfm
(photos to follow)
Although the group did not manage to stop workers entering the base today, a spokeswoman said, "We're not disappointed. We're here as a visible opposition to the building of the next generation of nuclear weapons here at AWE, and the size of the police presence indicates the level of resources that have to be deployed in order to stop us."
This morning a flustered Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, failed to give a direct reply to John Humphries on the BBC's Radio 4 Today programme, when asked whether the UK was developing a successor to the Trident warhead.
Block the Builders are calling on the government to come clean and admit that the current programme of building works - including on a new laser facility - are designed to equip the UK to build a successor to Trident,as detailed in yesterday's Sunday Times.[2]
The protest was held in advance of the Defence Select Committee's opening session on Tuesday 14 March [3], which is apparently being conducted to inform a decision on the future of the UK nuclear weapons. As far as Block the Builders can see, that decision has already been made, and work has already started.
Contact number: 07969 739 812 or 07887 802 879
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Notes
[1]
http://www.blockthebuilders.org uk [2]
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-2081800,00.html [3]The Defence Committee has announced that it will hold a series of inquiries over the course of the current Parliament into the future of the UK’s strategic nuclear deterrent. The first inquiry will focus on the strategic context and the timetable for decision making. It will consider the threats which the strategic nuclear deterrent is currently intended to combat and how this context might change over the next two decades. It will consider what other states or organisations could develop nuclear weapons capabilities by 2025, and how this might affect the strategic context in which decisions on the UK deterrent will be made. And it will consider the timetable in which these decisions will have to be taken and implemented.
http://ww.parliament.uk/parliamentary_committees/defence_committee/def060308___no__25.cfm
JK
e-mail:
btb@aldermaston.net
Homepage:
http://www.blockthebuilders.org.uk
Additions
Traffic was stopped
14.03.2006 21:48
The protesters DID manage to stop construction traffic from entering the base. Whilst the blockaders lay in the middle of the road with lock-ons, the police closed both lanes of the road opposite Home Office gate for approximately half an hour. Let’s hope that even more people will join the next blockade and stop the traffic for longer.
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