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Block the Builders Take Protest to Chippenham

Block the Builders | 12.06.2006 14:23 | Anti-militarism | Ecology

This morning, as a delegation of Scottish MSPs, church leaders and NGO representatives visited Britain's nuclear weapons factory at AWE Aldermaston, anti-nuclear nonviolent direct action group Block the Builders took their protest to the UK office of German firm M+W Zander in Chippenham, Wilts.

Block the Builders
Block the Builders

Plans for the Orion Laser
Plans for the Orion Laser

Delivering the Letter
Delivering the Letter

Zander Banner
Zander Banner


Zander have a contract for AWE's controversial Orion laser facility, reportedly worth £20m. Plans for the facility, designed by the company and dated 10 August 2005, were on display at a Berkshire planning meeting about the project last November (pictured).

The five-year project to build the laser facility is part of a massive building programme at AWE which the plutonium profiteers have themselves compared to Heathrow's Terminal 5 and which campaigners believe will facilitate the development of the next generation of nuclear weapons.

While Chippenham residents were surprised that their town had been visited by the group, they were overwhelmingly supportive. Most had no idea of the German firm's role in Britain's WMD programme. During the morning's protest, Block the Builders representatives hand-delivered a formal letter to a Zanders (pictured) requesting they cease their work for AWE.


This morning's Block the Builder's action is part of an ongoing campaign of nonviolent resistance to new facilities being developed at AWE Aldermaston.

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Notes:

1. for further details of the new facilities being built at AWE Aldermaston and previous protests, visit
-  http://www.aldermaston.net
-  http://www.blockthebuilders.org.uk

2. for details of the Scottish delegation to AWE Aldermaston this morning, see  http://www.nuclearinfo.org

Block the Builders
- Homepage: http://blockthebuilders.org.uk