Protestors blockade nuclear arms maker

On Monday 15th February ten students representing Weapons out of Warwick took part in the Aldermaston Blockade. The blockade is an annual event that has taken place for half a century, comprising the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) and Trident Ploughshares.

Both arrestable and non-arrestable student activists from Warwick protested against Trident, the UK’s biggest nuclear arms manufacturer, by participating in the blockade of the seven gates and road outside the Aldermaston Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) site.

The Warwick group, accompanied by a photographer and legal adviser, aimed to prevent Aldermaston employees from entering the site, and impede any other access, thereby stopping nuclear production even for a few hours. This, they say, is an important symbol of resistance to what they perceive to be an unethical, immoral trade.

The long-term goal of CND is ultimate nuclear disarmament, based on the view that nuclear weapons make the world a more dangerous place, and that disarmament will not be harmful to national security. This is particularly pertinent given that the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review, in which Trident’s future will be ultimately determined, is scheduled for May 2010.

After staying overnight in a chapel in a neighbouring village, the students began protesting at 7am and demonstrated using non-violent, direct action, with the use of arm-tubes (devices used to link protesters’ arms together and designed to be difficult for authorities to remove) and a protest banner. They engaged in polite discussion with workers at Aldermaston, and also with police officers. Although they encountered some opposition from the police patrolling the area, who confiscated the arm-tubes and broke up the group blockading the main pedestrian road, no-one was arrested.

After protesting throughout the morning at the faith gate, the gate that the women’s group had been blockading and the student gate, and joining another student protest group in solidarity, with a chorus of ‘Power to the People’, the group left the site at midday.

One of the protesters, Chris Browne, a third year politics student, commented, “I felt the day went really well. The vast majority of gates were closed down during the day, and whilst members of the Warwick group managed to escape arrest, we did everything we could to effectively contribute to the blockade’s success.

“However, I was expecting there to be more people there. Only a few hundred came for a fairly mainstream, national day of action.”

In total the blockade was attended by up to 800 activists, out of which there were around 30 arrests.