Anti Trident protesters blocked the road near AWE Aldermaston on the 10th April 2007. In an action with Block the Builders (www.blockthebuilders.org.uk) and Trident Ploughshares (www.tridentploughshares.org), activists took to the streets to raise awareness of the issue. The government recently announced that it was going to spend £76 billion to replace the Trident nuclear weapon, updating submarines and using the new Orion laser facility at Aldermaston Weapons Establishment. This will contravene the commitment to reduce nuclear weapons, and encourage other states like Iran to ignore the empty rhetoric and join the nuclear club. If we need to buy new nuclear weapons, why shouldn't they? And it makes us a target of terrorism; having these dangerous materials so close to Reading puts us at risk. It was interesting to hear that contaminated radioactive packaging materials were burnt on the site, with no consideration given to the safety of those living nearby. Its only a year ago that a pipeline carrying radioactive waste to the River Thames was closed. You wont be surprised to learn that there is a cluster of cancer cases in the area, but why would our safety be of any consideration?
Ive put more photos on www.flickr.com/photos/7676358@N08/
It got in Tuesdays Reading Evening Post as a small item, and on BBC Radio Berkshire. Fifty to eighty protestors joined in various actions against Trident, including blocking the A340 at Aldermaston for nearly 1.5 hours. Eleven were arrested, all were released after a few hours. I joined in as support for the activists, preventing those lying in the road being run over and explaining to members of the public what we were doing. It was quite a long day, with lots of preparation the day before and an early start, but worth it. If citizens aren’t prepared to make a protest about issues as important as this one, there would be no debate, and no end to the spread of nuclear weapons.
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