Anti-war action

On 30 June and 2 July, the seven remaining defendants in the EDO Decommissioners’ case were found not guilty of conspiracy to cause criminal damage despite their admission that they had damaged £180,000 worth of property on 16 January 2009 in a plant producing weapons for Israel. On 30 June, a unanimous jury acquitted five of the activists, and on 2 July the judge cleared the remaining two defendants of wrongdoing. The court found that the activists broke in with “lawful excuse,” as the…

Thirty years ago this October, the first issue of the Newsletter of the National No-Nukes Prison Support Collective (later renamed the Nuclear Resister) reported on just one anti-nuclear civil disobedience action – that of the Plowshares Eight.

On 9 September 1980, eight US activists made their way into a General Electric factory in Pennsylvania, where they hammered and poured blood on nuclear missile nose-cones. This action inspired a global movement, and scores of similar acts…

On 6 September, as part of a Trident Ploughshares Summer Gathering in Reading, the Aldermaston atomic weapons’ factory was symbolically disarmed.

During the morning rush hour, around 20 supporters of Trident Ploughshares blockaded one gate of the factory to protest at plans to build a new multi-million pound warhead testing facility there. Four chained themselves together inside arm tubes (lock-ons) and lay in front of the gate for two hours, releasing themselves without being…

On the evening of 30 July, two dozen peace activists from around the world gathered in Gretna to begin Scotland’s month-long “Footprints for Peace” walk. Participants came from Scotland, England, France, Switzerland, South Africa, Poland and Australia to follow the various routes taken by the nuclear weapons convoys travelling between Burghfield /Aldermaston in the south of England and Faslane/Coulport on the west coast of Scotland.

Many were veterans of either the 2006 “Long…

In a stunning vindication of their disarmament action, seven defendants in the EDO Decommissioners case were found “not guilty” at Hove crown court, despite admitting causing £180,000 damage to the EDO/MBM arms factory in Brighton. (See PN 2506.)

Five of the activists – Simon Levin, Bob Nicholls, Ornella Saibene, Harvey Tadman and Tom Woodhead – were cleared by unanimous verdicts of the jury on 30 June, and the last two defendants – Chris Osmond and Elijah Smith – were cleared by…

In this bumper summer issue of Peace News, we bring you good news from all around the world – from Australia where Ploughshares activists (pictured above) who pleaded guilty to breaking into a top secret spy base were nevertheless found not guilty by their judge, to Serbia, where charges were dismissed against six anarchists initially charged with international terrorism for protesting at the Greek embassy.

In Washington DC, in the US, there were acquittals for 24 human rights…

On 4 June, a jury at Belfast crown court found nine women not guilty of charges including breaking and entering into the Derry offices of arms manufacturer Raytheon during the 2009 Israeli assault on Gaza.

On 12 January 2009, Roisin Barton, Roisin Bryce, Elizabeth Doherty, Goretti Horgan, Diana King, Jackie McKenna, Sharron Meenan, Helen Reynolds and Julia Torrojo had intended to bring down Raytheon’s computer to highlight Raytheon’s supplying missile software to the Israeli Defence…

London mayor Boris Johnson displayed his dedication to free speech on 3 June, by asking the high court to order the immediate eviction of Democracy Village, established on Parliament Square on 1 May. He also asked for the clearance of at least one tent from Brian Haw’s peace campaign, established over nine years ago, from the grassy area of the square, managed by the Greater London Authority.

The campaigners put forward arguments based on the free speech and assembly provisions…

On 16 June, acquittals were handed out to four Australians who broke into a top secret spy base on Swan Island, Victoria, and disrupted satellite communications with Australian troops operating in Afghanistan.

Christian peace activists Jacob Bolton, Jessica Morrison, Simon Moyle, and Simon Reeves told Geelong court that they were pleading guilty, not out of a sense of emotional guilt, but because they wanted to take full responsibility for their actions.

Having heard…

The EDO Decommissioners (see PN 2506) spent the first week of their trial grilling the head of EDO/MBM, Paul Hills, on the firm’s supply of vital components to Israeli F-16 fighter jets (which Hills denied).

After nine days, on 16 June, Brighton peace activist Rosa Bellamy was cleared of conspiracy to participate in the property destruction inside the EDO/MBM arms factory in January 2009. The action took place as Israeli F-16s were bombing Gaza, killing hundreds of civilians.…

The six EDO Decommissioners, who caused £300,000 damage to the EDO MBM arms factory in Brighton to protest against the war on Gaza, go to trial on 17 May. They are charged with conspiracy to commit criminal damage.

The trial will be held at Hove Crown Court on Lansdowne Road BN3 3BN. There will be a solidarity demonstration at 10am on the Monday morning.

Because the courtroom lacks a large public gallery, people are also encouraged to turn up throughout the trial to…

On 31 March, four Christian peace activists broke into a secret Australian military base in a protest against the war in Afghanistan. The four swam to Swan Island off the south coat of Australia at 5.30am, climbed the fence and spent several hours on the base shutting down the switchboard, a satellite and causing a lockdown on the base, effectively disrupting the Australian war effort in Afghanistan.

“Both Swan Island and the war on Afghanistan are out of sight, out of mind. It’…

Three Christian peace activists, charged with burglary and unlawful damage at a US spy base in New Zealand, were acquitted on 17 March.

Father Peter Murnane, Adrian Leason and Sam Land stood trial for NZ$1m damage to a 30m-high pressurized dome covering a satellite at the Waihopai spy base. Waihopai is New Zealand’s biggest contribution to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and part of Echelon, a five-nation network of global surveillance.

The three broke in by…

Shortly after the lunch adjournment on the second day of the trial, 2 March, Adi Leason took the stand and commenced giving his testimony. His counsel, Michael Knowles, led Adi through a description of his life as a Christian, and his story as a teacher, community worker and political activist.

Adrian James Leason is 44 years old, married with seven children, presently living in Otaki. He made three of the banners used in the Waihopai Ploughshares action. “USA War on Terror: a…

More than 500 activists shut down access to the Aldermaston nuclear bomb factory in Berkshire on 15 February to protest against the expansion of the Atomic Weapons Establishment’s research, design and testing of advanced nuclear warheads – without parliamentary approval.

Beginning at 6.30am, demonstrators, including Nobel Peace Prize winners Jody Williams and Mairead Maguire, prevented workers from entering all eight gates for nearly four hours.

Reading Gate was…