Press Releases & Updates 1999

Trident Ploughshares 2000 activists this weekend targeted Aldermaston Atomic Weapons Establishment, scaling fences to enter the base, planting ’seeds of hope’ in the radioactive soil and holding the first performance of a specially-commissioned play.

This weekend saw further evidence of the re-emergence of the anti-nuclear movement in Britain, as activists from around the South-East, including students from Oxford University, took part in actions against the manufacture of nuclear weapons at Aldermaston.

On Saturday evening, two protesters - Tigger MacGregor (17) and Sam Geall (16) scaled the perimeter fence, hanging banners from the barbed wire and decorating the fence posts, before being escorted out by MOD police. Meanwhile, others were planting rows of sunflower seeds alongside the fence. (Sunflowers absorb radiation, lessening the impact of contamination from the base to the local environment.)

On Sunday morning protesters gathered outside the main entrance, blocking the entry of traffic to the base, were joined by MOD police to watch the first performance of ’Monster’, a play devised by Oxford undergraduate, Tanya Abramsky.

Photographs available: protesters hanging colourful banners from the top of the perimeter fence; protesters planting sunflower seeds; performance of ’Monster’.

Notes:

Aldermaston AWE is the facility responsible for manufacturing vital parts of Britain’s nuclear weapons, and would also be responsible for decommissioning in the event of a government decision to disarm. Aldermaston was the site of the first CND marches in the late fifties. Five women from ’Aldermaston Women Trash Trident’ TP2000 affinity group - present this weekend - were recently arrested after two of them successfully disarmed HMS Vengeance, Britain’s latest Trident submarine.

Members of Trident Ploughshares 2000 have pledged to rid the UK of its illegal weapons of mass destruction by the year 2000, by means of open, accountable and non-violent direct disarmament. Many disarmament actions are being planned currently and the next intensive phase takes place in the week beginning 29th March at one or other of the 36 Trident related sites round the UK.

Sixth-former, Tigger, recently visited Downing Street as part of a youth consultation project between DEMOS, Save the Children and other youth organisation. She attempted to raise disarmament issues but discovered there was no platform within the day to discuss these issues. "New Labour simply don’t want to talk about Trident," she says "Britain’s nuclear weapons are illegal under international law and as global citizens, Sam and I felt it our duty to inspect the site at Aldermaston for evidence of war crimes being committed."

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