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Aldermaston AWE is blockaded

imc-uk-features | 27.10.2008 16:38 | Anti-militarism

Some 300 activists turned out for the Big Blockade of Aldermaston Atomic Weapons Establishment. Organised by Trident Ploughshares and supported by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), Block the Builders and the Aldermaston Women’s Peace Camp, the blockade was an attempt to disrupt work on existing Trident nuclear warheads and the facilities that will enable the development of their successors at Britain’s nuclear weapons research laboratory.

More than 30 people were arrested. Several people mounted a tripod which blocked the A340 for two hours; several others, who were locked together with arm tubes, blockaded the construction gate for five hours. People came from far and wide for the blockade - there were representatives from Norway, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, France, Scotland, Wales, Bradford and Plymouth, as well as a Buddhist monk and nun who walked to Aldermaston from London.

The blockade of Aldermaston comes in the wake of several other campaigns against arms manufacturers in the UK. In Brighton, on 15th October, a mass protest took place against EDO MBM/ITT. Meanwhile, last week in Bristol, a number of protesters mounted a roof-top protest against Raytheon. Two of the protesters stayed on the roof for some 38 hours.

Report and photos from Aldermaston: 1 | 2
Background on Aldermaston: UN disarmament week | Recent safety problems | CND PR on Trident replacement | Chronology of Trident replacement

Reports from Bristol: 1 (with pics) | 2 | 3 (Video from youtube)
Background on Raytheon: 1 | 2 | 3

Police manhandling protesters
Police manhandling protesters


imc-uk-features

Additions

Blog updated with more pics

28.10.2008 10:33

More photos and a message of support from Japanese activists have now been uploaded to the blog. Further photos and information to be added soon.

Aldermaston Big Blockade blog:  http://blockawe.blogspot.com
Trident Ploughshares website:  http://www.tridentploughshares.org

CND press releases:  http://www.cnduk.org/index.php/press-releases/trident/hundreds-of-protesters-blockade-aldermaston-atomic-weapons-establishment.html
 http://www.cnduk.org/index.php/press-releases/trident/campaigners-to-blockade-aldermaston-nuclear-bomb-factory-on-monday.html

More photos here:
 http://picasaweb.google.com/NuclearDisarm
 http://picasaweb.google.com/NuclearDisarm/Aldermaston#

Links to mainstream media coverage to follow, including The Guardian, Morning Star (front page), BBC, Press Association, Channel 4 website, Evening Standard, Daily Express and the local papers (Reading, Newbury, Basingstoke, etc).

Trident Ploughshares
mail e-mail: aldermaston_blockade_media_team [at] yahoo.co.uk
- Homepage: http://blockawe.blogspot.com


Links to mainstream media coverage...

29.10.2008 00:05

...have now been added to the blog, along with an arrest update, reports from the Guardian, Morning Star and Aldermaston Women's Peace Camp, more photos, and video clip of the tripod blockade. Yet more photos and hopefully more video footage soon.

Aldermaston Big Blockade blog:  http://blockawe.blogspot.com
Trident Ploughshares website:  http://www.tridentploughshares.org

Trident Ploughshares
mail e-mail: aldermaston_blockade_media_team [at] yahoo.co.uk
- Homepage: http://blockawe.blogspot.com


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