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You are here: Frontpage > News > Anti-war protesters from Norwich and Leicester to plead not guilty in court in Reading to 'Criminal Damage.’

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21-Jun-2004

Anti-war protesters from Norwich and Leicester to plead not guilty in court in Reading to 'Criminal Damage.’

by: Dr. Rupert Read

United Kingdom: Their action was part of Trident Ploughshares, a national campaign of open, accountable and non-violent disarmament of the Trident nuclear weapons system. With cases of alleged abuse and torture of Iraqi prisoners under British and American care reported in the media, their main reason for entering the base was to inform the Ministry of Defence personnel of their responsibilities and duties under international law. The activists felt that steps were needed to remedy that situation and chose Burghfield base as their location to do so.

The activists came from very different backgrounds, such as a history teacher, a housewife, a self-educated single parent, a violin teacher, a sustainable policy adviser, and university researcher. Upon entering the base, they then scattered to distribute leaflets to the base personnel.

The choice of Burghfield was very deliberate according to one of the protesters, Dr. Kathryn Amos, who explained “Burghfield is essential to Britain's nuclear weapons arsenal as it carries out the final stages of manufacture of the warheads, and is responsible for maintaining them in working order.” She also that they went into Burghfield to make base personnel aware of their responsibilities under international law for their part in the threat or use of illegal nuclear weapons commenting that even a direct order to work on illegal weapons systems should not be carried out as it could result in prosecution in the future.

Another of the protesters, Zina Zelter added, “every time a state deploys or tries to justify its deployment of weapons of mass destruction, the use of violence and fear to get what you want becomes more accepted. The deployment of Trident is state terrorism. Civilians are responsible for making sure their governments abide by international laws.”

Source: r.read@uea.ac.uk