Trident Ploughshares Press Release
Eleven protesters from the anti nuclear campaign group Trident Ploughshares are sitting in and singing while superglued together in the lobby of Parliament demanding the government scrap the Trident nuclear weapons system just as the debate on the government motion on replacing Trident is getting underway. [1]
The peaceful campaigners removed jackets to reveal messages that read “NO TRIDENT” and “No Trident Replacement” and “Scrap Trident” and “Scotland says Trident No More” written on their clothes. They are sitting down with hands superglued together singing anti Trident songs in the Westminster lobby where they can be heard clearly by MPs, staff and visitors alike.
Angie Zelter said, “We are here at the heart of political decision making to protest against any decision to continue to rely on nuclear weapons. This is not being done in our name, is not in the public interest and is not for our security. Nuclear weapons are illegal, immoral and shameful”.
The protest follows a month of action at the Atomic Weapons Establishment at Burghfield [2] where the nuclear warheads are manufactured, a four hundred strong CND lobby of Parliament last week and demonstrations in towns and cities in Scotland. [3] The protesters travelled from Scotland, Wales, Cornwall and Yorkshire and Tyneside to take part in today’s protest.
Protest
Jane Tallents, from Penicuik said “I’ve come to London today to say No to Trident once again. I protested the arrival of Trident in Scotland 30 years ago when pregnant with my oldest son. Now I’m expecting my first grandchild and it seems inevitable that Westminster will endorse the government’s plans to base these abhorrent weapons for another 50 years.”
“Theresa May says not to replace Trident would be mad, but we say her plan to continue threatening nuclear annihilation is “sheer madness”, not only because they are a waste of precious billions that are desperately needed for vital public services in a time when people are queuing up at food banks, but because their use would cause the deaths of millions and millions of innocent people and utter devastation to the planet.”
“Most countries in the world don’t rely on nuclear weapons for their security but the UK is boycotting UN talks for a global ban. Theresa May and all the MPs thinking of supporting this motion should look around the world and realise that there is another way.”
The sit in is taking place as large numbers of people are gathering in Parliament Square and city centres all across the UK to call for the government not to move forward with its plans to replace Trident nuclear weapons.
Those taking part in the sit in were Jane Tallents and Brian Larkin from Penicuik, Gillian Lawrence, Margaret Bremner and Sheila Mackay from Edinburgh, Michal Lovejoy and Dagmar Schwitzgabel from Plymouth, Sue Bennet from North Tyneside, Sylvia Boyes from Yorkshire, Sarah Lasenby from Oxford and Angie Zelter from Knighton in Wales.
Contact: Brian Larkin 07584492257
More photos on @TridentPlough and @ScrapTrident and #ScrapTrident
Notes for Editors
For more info on Trident Ploughshshares see: http://www.tridentploughshares.org/
For info on the Month of action at Burghfield see: http://www.tridentploughshares.org/
For details of the protests across Scotland see: http://scraptrident.org/
Brian Larkin
Mob: 07584492257
Trident Ploughshares is a campaign for the disarmament of the UK Nuclear Weapons