23.04.2007 A group of activists from Scotland have shut 3 gates at Aldermaston this morning since 6.05am. At Home Office gate two people have been arrested for obstruction of the highway, with one person sitting on top of the gate keeping it shut. At Tadley gate six people have been arrested and are locked-on in the roadway preventing vehicles from leaving or arriving. A third (Construction) gate was also locked shut with a D-lock.
The group were acting peacefully to disrupt the multimillion pound development of a replacement for Britain’s Trident Nuclear Weapons.
“With the Scottish elections looming and the real possibility of a Nuclear-Weapons Free Scotland, we felt we had to come and make the strength of feeling up here clear to AWE”, Dave, one of the activists
from South Lanarkshire, said. “It is clear from the developments at the site that the decision to renew Britain’s nuclear weapons long pre-dates the parliamentary vote last month.”
The Atomic Weapons Establishment, Aldermaston, is currently undergoing massive new developments similar in scale to the Heathrow Terminal 5 project. The developments include new computing and laser facilities
which will enable scientists to simulate nuclear explosions to improve the design of nuclear warheads without actually exploding a weapon which would be banned under the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. The site was given a £5 billion refit after the renewal of the Mutual Defence Agreement with the USA in 2005 which allows the sharing of nuclear information between the USA and Britain.
One of the group, Danya from Argyll and Bute, Scotland, said “The development of yet more Weapons of Mass Destruction at this site is in total breach of the nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty. The vote last
month to commit the UK to keeping nuclear weapons until 2050 was a foregone conclusion and does nothing to tackle the real enormous issues that the UK and the world faces, such as climate change and nuclear
proliferation.”
“Instead, the parliamentary decision and developments at this site will heighten global instability, conflict and nuclear proliferation.” The group which included activists from Faslane Peace Camp, a protest site opposite HMNB Clyde where the UK’s Trident submarines are based, say they were acting in solidarity with “Block the Builders”, a campaign taking peaceful actions against the new developments at the site. http://www.blockthebuilders.org.uk/
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Update on action as off 10.45am
At 10.30 the police removed the protestor from the top of the gate using a scaffolding tower, he has been arrested.
Early at the other gate one person was arrested and removed from a lock but someone else took their place.
The police cutting team got there at about ten and are cutting through two of the lockons. The gate is still blocked.
One of the people arrested early has now been released after being given bailed.