CND Easter Monday Protest: On Easter Monday 2013 CND organised a big protest on the UK’s nuclear weapons institution at Aldermaston, 12 miles to the west of Studying.
As this yr, Easter Monday was additionally April Idiot’s Day, and on Monday 1st April 2013 this was the Nuclear Idiot’s Day – Scrap Trident rally. However Aldermaston is a big website and the protesters have been unfold between the half dozen gates round its 5 mile fenced perimeter, with audio system travelling between the gates in quite a few vehicles and lorries.
I’d put my bike on the practice to Studying, then cycled from there to the occasion. I discovered it fairly a tiring trip with some lengthy uphill sections towards a prevailing westerly wind, and was somewhat drained by the point I arrived.
Each time I’ve been to Aldermaston I’ve at all times felt a slight rigidity within the air.I don’t actually imagine the air there may be any extra radioactive than round my dwelling on the sting of London, and it’s definitely in any other case much less air pollution laden. And though it’s doable that most of the footage I take are going to contravene our draconian Official Secrets and techniques Act 1911 (now changed by the Nationwide Safety Act 2023) I do know that it’s remotely unlikely I’ll have any issues reporting the occasion.
However having the bike with me enabled me to trip round to every of the gates in flip and take footage of what was occurring at them, in addition to some folks stretched out alongside the fences away from the gates. By the beginning of the protest at midday there have been teams of between 50 and a number of other hundred at every of half a dozen gates across the over 5 miles of the location perimeter, with others strolling across the path across the website, attaching messages and banners to its tall safety fence.
Gates had been allotted to completely different teams from across the nation, and there was additionally a ladies’s gate and a religion gate, with Christians, Buddhists and others. Police have been standing behind the gates, with a couple of mixing with the protesters, and others driving across the roads by the location.
Among the many audio system I heard have been CND Vice-Chairs Jeremy Corbyn MP and Bruce Kent, CND Normal Secretary Kate Hudson, Inexperienced Social gathering Chief Natalie Bennett and South East Inexperienced MEP Keith Taylor, Cease the Battle’s Chris Nineham and CND founding member Pat Arrowsmith and one other veteran Walter Wolfgang, in addition to US activist Linda Pentz Gunter, the founding father of ‘Past Nuclear’.
On the ‘Religion Gate’ there was a brief ‘Easter Resurrection Hope‘ service during which an ‘Alleluia’ which had been symbolically positioned in a coffin on the Ministry of Defence in London on Shrove Tuesday originally of Lent was lifted out and held aloft, with a name for ‘a brand new heaven and a brand new earth‘ and the hope that ‘gentle and love would possibly overcome the shadow of destruction on this place.’ This was adopted by some Buddhist prayers, and a few statements from different religion teams about peace.
The occasion ended with everybody across the website making a loud noise and a few had introduced varied musical devices whereas others joined in banging pots and pans, whistling and shouting.
I nonetheless had 12 miles to cycle again to Studying Station, however no less than this fashion a lot of it was downhill and I had the wind behind me.
Extra footage on My London Diary at Nuclear Idiot’s Day – Scrap Trident.
Tags: 2013, Aldermaston, Allelulia, April 1st, April Fools Day, Bruce Kent, Buddhists, Christians, CND, coffin, Easter Monday, Easter Monday 2013, religion gate, Jeremy Corbyn, Kate Hudson, Natalie Bennett, Nuclear Fools Day, Pat Arrowsmith, peter Marshall, protest, Scrap Trident, safety fence
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