AWE Burghfield Protesters to Police: “Help us uphold the Law”
Veteran campaigner Pat Arrowsmith to attend
Trident Ploughshares campaigners, who will begin the month of disruption at the nuclear weapon plant at Burghfield next Monday 6th June, are asking police there not to arrest them for their peaceful actions but instead to take seriously their persistent requests to pursue the clear prima facie case against the operators of the plant and the UK government.
Trident Ploughshares member David Mackenzie said:
“Since the founding of Trident Ploughshares in 1998 we have been consistent in our stance that the fundamental case against the UK’s nuclear weapons arsenal is that its obvious inhumanity as a weapon of mass slaughter makes it unlawful under the basic principles of international law. So, next Monday we will be acting to uphold the law and so are asking the police, as an absolute minimum, to allow us to continue unhindered our gentle disruption of the ongoing work.
This is not a mere gesture. Over the years we have made numerous attempts to get the criminal justice system to do its work properly and investigate this ongoing criminal activity. Most recently this has involved groups across the country in seeking from the UK government a solemn declaration that British Nuclear Weapons will never be used to launch an indiscriminate and/or disproportionate attack.[1]
As well as the backing of the law we know that we will have the moral support of the majority world who want to work urgently towards a global ban treaty, in full awareness of the horrifying humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons.”[2]
Also present on the day will be the veteran anti-nuclear campaigner Pat Arrowsmith, a co-founder of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, and the campaign’s general secretary Kate Hudson.
Kate Hudson said: “The vast complexes at Aldermaston and Burghfield are founded on a wealth of resources and extraordinary human skill. What a tragedy that these are utilised for the production of weapons of mass destruction rather than being used instead to secure true human security and meet the real needs of our society.”
Contacts: Angie Zelter 07456 588943
Kate Hudson 07739184335
David Mackenzie 07876593016 tridentploughshares.org
[1] PICAT – A Public Interest Case Against Trident, co-ordinated by Trident Ploughshares & calling for all interested parties to participate in this request to UK courts to uphold the law. The aim of the project is to bring the crimes constituted by Trident and its renewal before the domestic courts and to secure a judgement that will lead to the ending of these crimes through the disarming of the UK’s nuclear weapons system. https://tridentploughshares.org/picat-a-public-interest-case-against-trident-co-ordinated-by-trident-ploughshares/
[2] The overwhelming majority of states at the recent session of the UN Open-ended Working Group were united around the proposal for a new legal instrument prohibiting nuclear weapons even without the participation of the nuclear weapon states. http://www.icanw.org/campaign-news/may-session-ends-with-huge-support-for-ban/
30th May press release fro June 2016 – word doc