Report in The Reading Chronicle
by Matthew Leung
The mock submarine erected at the anti-nuclear protest at AWE Burghfield
OVERNIGHT camping ended yesterday at AWE Burghfield, bringing to a close 11 days of continuous blockading in protest at the renewal of Trident, Britain’s nuclear defences.
Campaigners will still occupy the site during the day and participate in direct action.
They have vowed to remain at the site for the full month as previously announced.
All construction work at the AWE had been halted since Sunday June 5, when the demonstrations began.
The day before, a Welsh day of action included groups from Caerphilly, Newport, Swansea, West Wales and Powys taking part in the demonstrations.
A mock submarine was erected at the blockade, which was taken down in what Angie Zelter, from anti-nuclear group Trident Ploughshares, described as a symbolic disarmament.
Singers from the Welsh choirs Cor Cochion and Cor Gobraith protested the nuclear developments, with melodies in both Welsh and English.
Ms Zelter stressed that the protests were entirely non-violent, the intention being to raise public awareness of the issue and to disrupt the activities at AWE Burghfield where Britain’s nuclear warheads are manufactured and maintained.
Chris Plant, a representative of the Welsh demonstrators, said: “With each of the 160 missile warheads on board each submarine having eight times the power of the bomb that destroyed Hiroshima, Trident can only be a weapon of mass destruction and as such illegal under international law.
“Add to that its cost, estimated recently at £150 thousand million over the lifetime of the system, and renewing Trident looks absolutely obscene.”
Source: http://www.readingchronicle.co.uk/news/14565276.Overnight_blockading_brought_to_a_close_at_AWE_Burghfield/