Skip Nav | Home | Mobile | Editorial Guidelines | Mission Statement | About Us | Contact | Help | Security | Support Us

World

Welsh Action Day at Atomic Weapons Agency Burghfield

Sian Cox | 26.06.2016 20:01 | Anti-Nuclear | Wales | World

The action at AWE Burghfield is a June-long continuous protest organised by campaign group Trident Ploughshares (www.tridentploughshares.org), which is dedicated to ending the UK's nuclear weapons programme.The action by Welsh activists from Gwent, Newport, Swansea, West Wales and Powys continued the blockade of the nuclear weapons plant by anti-war activists from around the UK and the world that has closed the Construction Gate and protested at the North Gate at the plant since 6th June.

Says it all
Says it all

Singing out loud
Singing out loud

Singing out proud
Singing out proud

Amicable debate!
Amicable debate!


The Welsh Action Day at Atomic Weapons Establishment Burghfield on 15th June passed off peacefully and without rancour. The sun shone in long spells for most of the morning. Grey clouds passed over but didn't spill. The light breeze was warm.

Singers from Welsh choirs Cor Cochion (Cardiff) and Cor Gobaith (Aberystwyth) greeted workers arriving at the plant from 07.15 with protest songs calling for the scrapping of Trident specifically and nuclear weapons generally; for the ending of war; for peace; and for the securing of the planet and the future for our children.

“Obscene amounts are spent on useless nuclear weapons, while support for the most vulnerable in our society is under constant attack by this government” said Wendy Lewis, activist from Caerphilly and Cor Cochion singer. “Cameron has forced a hugely destructive and expensive referendum on us about Europe, but no one has asked us if we want these dangerous and expensive weapons of mass destruction".

A peace camp established at the Construction Gate has maintained the action continuously through every night. Construction traffic has not entered the plant since 6th June (staff access is not impeded; protesters have no desire to take any action that might jeopardise the safety of a nuclear facility). Activists passed a peaceful night on 14th June, singing, playing guitar, some sleeping. A van arriving through the night concealed a delivery unnoticed by the watchful police.

The nocturnal delivery was a submarine. The width of a road when assembled, the submarine is a plywood prop in five sections, made for symbolic non-violent direct action. At 09.00, five activists moved. Dragging the sub across the road, they 'locked on' with chains, one to each section, and blocked the gate in a sitting protest. At 10.00 police gave the sitting protesters an hour to remove the sub and themselves from the road. The hour passed peacefully. Four activists, quietly and unseen, disconnected themselves but remained in position. At the appointed hour, as police approached to take action, the five stood and the submarine fell away in four sections, one section hanging on to one activist.

The police separated the remaining sub section from its activist, cutting the chains, and thereby enacting the symbolic disarmament of Trident that the plywood sub is meant for. Trident is illegal under international law. As upholders of the law, the police should seek actively to bring about its disarmament. 'See how easy it is to disarm Trident?' called activists, applauding, as the police, in taking apart the prop, symbolised the action they should be taking in life.

At the North Gate, camping gas kept protesters in tea and coffee, and home-made Bara Brith fuelled unceasing, passionate singing. A peaceful morning passed into a peaceful afternoon, interrupted by periodic frenetic activity as handfuls of activists attempted sitting protests in the roadway and were repelled by police, one lifted bodily to the verge. One, carrying the Welsh flag before her, accompanied by the choir on the verge, valiantly sang and sang, with all her heart, as police pushed her back.

Most of the Welsh groups left for home in the late afternoon. Those who remained lit their camp fire in the peace camp and prepared for another night keeping the blockade going at the Construction Gate. The following days' protesters – for Academics Day, 16th June - gathered at the peace camp and talked late into the evening. One local supporter slept in a car parked immediately in front of the gate. The rest of the Welsh group slept in the camp.

The blockade ends on 30th June with a Grand Finale. People who have taken part in this month of protest will return to the perimeter fence of AWE Burghfield, together with as many other people as can make it, to stretch a continuous Red Line around the site. Everyone who wants the disarmament of Trident and the cessation of nuclear weapons development is welcome. Come if you can. Wear red, bring strips of red fabric or anything else coloured red that can join the line. The action starts at 07.00 but people can arrive at any time through the day and join in. You will see what to do and will be welcomed. For more information about the Red Line, visit:
 http://tridentploughshares.org/the-grand-finale-a-red-line-day-awe-burghfield-a-quick-guide/

Sian Cox

Comments

Display the following comment

  1. Congratulations but a shame to see how small the protests where — Sarah

Publish

Publish your news

Do you need help with publishing?

/regional publish include --> /regional search include -->

World Topics

Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista

Kollektives

Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World

Other UK IMCs
Bristol/South West
London
Northern Indymedia
Scotland

Server Appeal Radio Page Video Page Indymedia Cinema Offline Newsheet

secure Encrypted Page

You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.

If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

IMCs


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech