At 2am on Sunday, 25 August 2013, more than 20 anti-nuclear campaigners set up camp at the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) in Burghfield, Berkshire, for a fortnight of activities including a blockade of the nuclear bomb factory on 2 September. The campaigners arrived at 2am, and established the camp between The Mearings and the outer fence of AWE Burghfield on MoD land.
The camp marks the beginning of two-week peaceful protest, which is organised by Trident Ploughshares in conjunction with Action AWE (2) to show active opposition to Trident replacement and urge the government and elected representatives to support Britain’s disarmament obligations under the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and join multilateral efforts to ban nuclear weapons worldwide.
Police arrived after 45 minutes, but did not initially intervene. The activists plan to stay until 7 September 2013, the planned end of the Disarmament Camp.
The Burghfield Camp and a planned blockade on 2 September are the latest in a series of protests at nuclear weapons bases in England and Scotland aimed at raising public and political awareness of the costs and consequences of nuclear weapons and the imperative to prevent Trident replacement. Initiatives by civil society, the international Red Cross and a growing number of governments are raising awareness of the humanitarian impacts of nuclear weapons, putting a global nuclear ban treaty on the international agenda that could be concluded within the next decade.
ENDS
Media are invited to visit the camp at AWE Burghfield on from Sunday, 25 August on. The exact location of the camp is between The Mearings and the fence of AWE Burghfield (near http://osm.org/go/eushcNSlx-?m) and press should ring ActionAWE Press on 0845 458 8362.
Notes to editors:
[1] Action AWE (Atomic Weapons Eradication) was launched in February 2013 as a grassroots peace campaign of autonomous groups taking nonviolent action to halt nuclear warhead production at AWE Aldermaston and Burghfield and advocate for a global treaty banning nuclear weapons.
[2]The AWE Burghfield Disarmament Camp will remain from 25th August to 7th September 2013, including a big blockade of AWE Burghfield on 2nd September 2013 (http://tridentploughsharesarchive.org/awe-burghfield-summer-disarmament-camp-2013/ and http://actionawe.org/burghfield-blockade-leaflet-2nd-september-2013/)