Press Releases & Updates 2007
11th April 2007
Citizens Taking Action Where Parliament Fails
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At least 11 people were arrested while are attempting to block access to the Aldermaston Atomic Weapons Establishment in Berkshire this morning in order to disrupt a multimillion pound development project at the site. Some roads around the site were blocked for nearly an hour. The protesters claim that this development is to develop new nuclear weapons and shows that the decision to renew Britain’s nuclear weapons was made years before the parliamentary vote last month.
The protesters are from the anti-Trident group Trident Ploughshares and the group Block the Builders which opposes the development at Aldermaston. They have chained themselves together and blocking gate at Aldermaston. The Atomic Weapons Establishment is currently undergoing massive renewal including new computing and laser facilities which will enable to 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 signing 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 protesters Emma Bateman, aged 39 from Leicester, said “Parliament have failed in their duty in overlooking the decision to renew Trident and so it is we the people that have to take action to uphold international law. The development of nuclear weapons at this site is clearly in breach of the Non Proliferation Treaty. The government claims that we do not know what threats we face in the future. It is very clear what sort of threats we face if we break the Non Proliferation Treaty - tens or hundreds of nuclear weapons states instead for the eight at present with the massive increase in the risk of nuclear war either intentionally or by accident”.
CONTACTS
 Sian (At Aldermaston), 07887 802879
Peter (Background Information) 01603 628337
Websites:
Trident Ploughshares http://www.tridentploughshares.org/aldermaston
Block the Builders http://www.blockthebuilders.org.uk
Aldermaston Women’s Camp: http://www.aldermaston.net
Further Information
For brief and clear analysis of the parliamentary vote is Rebecca Johnson’s "Trident dispatches" series at http://www.thebulletin.org/columns/ (scroll down page to find Rebecca Johnson’s section), esp the last two (dispatches 5 and 6)
Last updated: 13th April 2007
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Trident Ploughshares,
0845 45 88 366
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