The NATO-ZU / Shut Down NATO blockade included peace activists from Britain, Germany, France, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands and several other countries. The protesters are calling for disarmament of NATO nuclear weapons, withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, an end to the expansion of NATO into Eastern Europe and the dissolution of the NATO Western military alliance.

The police established a "red" exclusion zone around the centre of Strasbourg, where delegates from 28 NATO countries are meeting, but protesters still succeeded in disrupting proceedings.

Daniel Viesnik, 34, a Trident Ploughshares activist who travelled from London to join the Strasbourg protests said, “We are calling for the disarmament of NATO nuclear weapons, the withdrawal of NATO troops from Afghanistan and an end to the expansion of NATO into Eastern Europe.

“NATO has hundreds of nuclear weapons at bases across Europe, including Britain’s submarine-launched Trident missiles, all in violation of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

“NATO is a relic of the Cold War. The Warsaw Pact was dissolved nearly two decades ago, but NATO continues to expand eastwards across Europe to Russia's borders. Its plans to incorporate Georgia and Ukraine are heightening tensions with Russia; and the US Ballistic Missile Defence programme - involving the UK, Poland and the Czech Republic – is creating a new nuclear arms race and a new Cold War with Russia, destroying any hope of achieving global nuclear disarmament.”

Matt Bury, a Trident Ploughshares activist who travelled from Scotland to join the blockade said, “NATO forces are responsible for the deaths of thousands of civilians in Afghanistan, Serbia and elsewhere over the past ten years alone. We believe that the peaceful world we seek cannot be achieved through the military bullying and warmongering that characterise NATO, but only through a spirit of co-operation and dialogue between nations.

“We are encouraged that the new US president appears committed to global nuclear disarmament and is reconsidering whether to move forward with the provocative ballistic missile defence programme; but his plans to escalate the war in Afghanistan and his calls for NATO allies, including Britain, to commit further troops to the conflict will only lead to more civilian deaths, causing more Afghans to turn against the West. We cannot stand idly by as NATO leaders plot further bloodshed and destruction. We are here to set an alternative path of peace.”

Angie Zelter, the founder of Trident Ploughshares, from London said, “If we want peace and to co-operate globally to solve poverty and climate chaos, then NATO must be disbanded. We have to solve our conflicts nonviolently and stop large corporations controlling the world’s resources for short-term profit. We cannot eat money.”

Mell Harrison, from Suffolk added, “I am here to take a stand against the hypocrisy of NATO sharing nuclear weapons amongst its members and its nuclear first strike policy, which breach the Non-Proliferation Treaty; while at the same time threatening war against countries it suspects possess or are seeking to develop weapons of mass destruction of their own.

“It is time for NATO to disband and start communicating. Peace is never achieved through violence.”

Ends

Notes

1. Details of the NATO-ZU / Shut down NATO nonviolent actions can be found here:
 http://wri-irg.org/node/6990

2. Trident Ploughshares is a campaign initiated in 1998 to disarm Britain’s Trident nuclear weapons system in a nonviolent, open, peaceful and fully accountable manner. It opposes all nuclear weapons and rejects violence as a means of resolving conflict. For more information, see:  http://www.tridentploughshares.org

3. Photo is Copyright (c) D. Viesnik 2009 but may be reproduced free of charge for non-commercial or non-intelligence-gathering purposes if credited to D. Viesnik. Please e-mail dv2012 [at] yahoo.co.uk for a high resolution copy.