8 more arrested in Anti Nuclear Campaign
0 Comments Published by Tom Woodcock on Sunday, January 28, 2007 at 1:37 PM.
Another eight Cambridge residents have been arrested during a protest outside the Trident Submarine Base at Faslane on the Clyde in Scotland this weekend.
Those arrested were among 50 others demonstrating this at the base on Saturday and Sunday. They are the third group from Cambridge to partake in a year long blockade of the base that aims to halt government plans to replace Trident - Britain’s nuclear submarines.
The eight were held for 12 hours at Dumbarton and Clydebank Police stations under the charge of breach of the peace. The group told police they were upholding international law, which prohibits the deployment of nuclear weapons. All were released without charge. The number of arrested at the base is now 493 since October.
Denise Knowelden, Respect County Council Candidate, said she did not want her three children or their families to grow up with the threat of nuclear war:
"The government would be committing Britain to Nuclear weapons until 2054. When faced with climate change there are so many more productive things to do with advanced science. Each Trident submarine carries 48 nuclear warheads, 8 times the power of the atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima in 1945, killing an estimated 140,000 people. Why would anyone want to do that again?"
Also amongst those arrested was Jannie Brightman (Convenor of The Cambridge Stop the War) Coalition. She said:
“The blockades at Faslane illustrates a ground swell of public opinion that will also see tens of thousands take to the streets of London and Glasgow on February the 24th to call for ‘No to trident Replacement and Troops Home from Iraq’. We are urging people to come on the demonstration as well as write to their MP asking them to vote against the £76bn replacement program that could come before parliament this March”
Cambridge MP Cambridge David Howarth has signed the early day motion (1113) which calls for a pubic debate on the issue of Replacing trident Nuclear Missiles. He has not yet stated which way he would vote on the issue.
Many campaigners have highlighted the hypocrisy surrounding the cost and legality of the replacement proposals. Local lecturer Jill Eastland and I were arrested at Faslane in October whilst trying to present a cheque for £76bn to the security staff at the base. Jill said:
“ This Government has spent billions bombing Iraq on the pretext that Saddam Hussein had Weapons of Mass destruction, now they are asking taxpayer to break international law and rebuild Trident. At the same time staff where I work have been made redundant and A level courses cut because there is not enough money.”
Other public sector workers have made the connection. 30 health professionals, dressed in paramedic-style clothing bearing the slogan Trident Health Warning, lay down in front of the base on Friday – 9 arrests were made.
Stop the War are organising coaches from Cambridge to the demonstration on the 24th of February £3/£5. Call 07712 893552 or 01223 328912 email: cambridge@stopwar.org.uk
Those arrested were among 50 others demonstrating this at the base on Saturday and Sunday. They are the third group from Cambridge to partake in a year long blockade of the base that aims to halt government plans to replace Trident - Britain’s nuclear submarines.
The eight were held for 12 hours at Dumbarton and Clydebank Police stations under the charge of breach of the peace. The group told police they were upholding international law, which prohibits the deployment of nuclear weapons. All were released without charge. The number of arrested at the base is now 493 since October.
Denise Knowelden, Respect County Council Candidate, said she did not want her three children or their families to grow up with the threat of nuclear war:
"The government would be committing Britain to Nuclear weapons until 2054. When faced with climate change there are so many more productive things to do with advanced science. Each Trident submarine carries 48 nuclear warheads, 8 times the power of the atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima in 1945, killing an estimated 140,000 people. Why would anyone want to do that again?"
Also amongst those arrested was Jannie Brightman (Convenor of The Cambridge Stop the War) Coalition. She said:
“The blockades at Faslane illustrates a ground swell of public opinion that will also see tens of thousands take to the streets of London and Glasgow on February the 24th to call for ‘No to trident Replacement and Troops Home from Iraq’. We are urging people to come on the demonstration as well as write to their MP asking them to vote against the £76bn replacement program that could come before parliament this March”
Cambridge MP Cambridge David Howarth has signed the early day motion (1113) which calls for a pubic debate on the issue of Replacing trident Nuclear Missiles. He has not yet stated which way he would vote on the issue.
Many campaigners have highlighted the hypocrisy surrounding the cost and legality of the replacement proposals. Local lecturer Jill Eastland and I were arrested at Faslane in October whilst trying to present a cheque for £76bn to the security staff at the base. Jill said:
“ This Government has spent billions bombing Iraq on the pretext that Saddam Hussein had Weapons of Mass destruction, now they are asking taxpayer to break international law and rebuild Trident. At the same time staff where I work have been made redundant and A level courses cut because there is not enough money.”
Other public sector workers have made the connection. 30 health professionals, dressed in paramedic-style clothing bearing the slogan Trident Health Warning, lay down in front of the base on Friday – 9 arrests were made.
Stop the War are organising coaches from Cambridge to the demonstration on the 24th of February £3/£5. Call 07712 893552 or 01223 328912 email: cambridge@stopwar.org.uk
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