Right across The Mearings, the private road to the main entrance to AWE Burghfield
10 supporters of Action AWE locked on with thumb locks, pipes and a wheel chair blocking the road to the main entrance of Atomic Weapons Establishment Burghfield for almost 3 hours from 7 am Monday 8th July. AWE Burghfield is the storage and maintenance depot for Trident nuclear warheads. It is involved in developing a replacement for Trident. It was pointed out to an MoD Police evidence gatherer that these activities are illegal under the Nuclear Non- Proliferation treaty and international humanitarian law. He was asked to investigate. He declined.
Streams of traffic were turned back by the police. Two police vans and 5 cars were called to the blockade.
It was a very hot sunny day with temperatures up to 28 C. The blockaders were mostly older people and included people with disabilities. Police officers several times asked if they had enough water and sun protection.
Having agreed by consensus that they had blocked the morning shift sufficiently the activists, from Trident Ploughshares, adjourned for a late breakfast in a cafe. Rupert when asked for a comment replied ” Can we call upon the UN to impose the same sanctions on the UK as are imposed on North Korea & Iran? “