Quakers join Aldermaston blockade - 12th Feb
Dozens of Quakers will be among campaigners planning to shut down the nuclear bomb factory at Aldermaston on Monday 15 February. They will be calling for disarmament of Trident and the abolition of nuclear weapons.
Oxford Quaker Sarah Lasenby, a member of Trident Ploughshares, said: “Weapons of mass destruction are designed and manufactured at Aldermaston. It is important to remind people this country is still producing and threatening to use these weapons. We want to see them abolished.”
Campaigners from England, Scotland, Wales and other countries will aim to block access to every gate of the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) at Aldermaston in Berkshire. The blockade, initiated by Trident Ploughshares (TP) and supported by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), the Aldermaston Women’s Peace Camp(aign) (AWPC) and other groups, aims to halt construction of facilities for research and development of a new generation of nuclear warheads.
Individuals supporting the blockade include Nobel Peace Prize laureates Jody Williams and Mairead Maguire (who led the successful campaign for the Convention on Cluster Munitions and worked to end violence in Northern Ireland respectively); and Jill Evans MEP.
Sam Walton, Peace and Disarmament Programme Manager for Quaker Peace and Social Witness said: “Quakers are present at Aldermaston to show their opposition to a new generation of nuclear weapons. Last week the government missed the opportunity of the Strategic Defence Review to progress its positive noises about disarmament. This shows that it is still stuck in cold war thinking when it comes to nuclear weapons.”
Ends
Notes to editor:
- Approximately 25,000 people attend Quaker Meetings for Worship in Great Britain, and there are more than 475 Meetings.
- Quakers are known formally as the Religious Society of Friends.
- Read more about the coordinating organisations: Trident Ploughshares: http://www.tridentploughshares.org and CND: http://www.cnduk.org and Aldermaston Women’s Peace Camp(aign): http://www.aldermaston.net
Media Information
Anne van Staveren
0207 663 1048
07958 009703
annev@quaker.org.uk
www.quaker.org.uk
