No Trident Foyer & Rally 2007

No Trident Foyer & Rally: On March 14th 2007 the Home of Commons have been debating the precept to switch the prevailing UK nuclear weapons and start a course of to design, construct and fee submarines to switch the prevailing Vanguard-class submarines carrying Trident nuclear missiles with up to date techniques over the approaching 17 years. The New Labour authorities, led by PM Tony Blair and the International Secretary Margaret Beckett have been supported by the Conservatives and one DUP member and gained the ultimate division by 408 votes to 160.

Voting towards have been many Labour MPs and virtually all of the Liberal Democrats, SNP and different minority events, though there have been just a few absentees.

Round Parliament Sq. there was a day of protest by Greenpeace and others with the principle CND rally known as for 5pm and persevering with into the night. Right here is the account I wrote of the day for My London Diary – with the standard minor corrections and some of the images I posted – extra are nonetheless on My London Diary

No Trident Foyer & Rally – Parliament Sq., London

I missed Bianca and Annie and the others, however I didn’t miss them as there was a lot else occurring. As I walked over Westminster bridge there was the banner flying on the crane in entrance of the homes of parliament, and there have been fairly just a few folks stopping to have a look at it.

Later, Greenpeace activists bought on their bikes and cycled throughout Westminster Bridge to Parliament Sq., the place they have been stopped by police and threatened with arrest until they left the roadway and moved onto the sq.. After some time all of them did, many biking away after a couple of minutes to cycle round London earlier than becoming a member of the ‘fish on a bicycle‘ important mass that arrived again on the sq. just a few hours later, and bought the identical ‘off your bike‘ remedy from the police.

The sq. began to refill slightly extra from round 5pm when a silent protest attended by a few hundred passed off within the far nook of the sq.. By the point the speeches began at 6.15 there was a decent crowd, maybe round 500, however folks have been nonetheless arriving and with the addition of the cyclists there have been maybe nearer to a thousand current.

A quick try by Greenpeace to protest on the pavement in entrance of the Homes Of Parliament took the police without warning, however the group have been quickly escorted again throughout the highway.

All through the day there had been loads of indicators of the private vendetta between some Met officers and the common protesters within the sq.. Two hapless officers seem to have been deployed simply to face in entrance of 1 fluorescent pink placard, and there have been some incidents of minor harassment. The injunction thrown out by the decide at Southwark Court docket not too long ago confirmed how the police are losing our cash on this respect.

Apparently the most recent strategy to attempt to take away the protesters from the sq. comes from London Mayor Ken Livingstone who’s anxious in regards to the grass being broken by the tents there. As I remarked when this was talked about, “grass regenerates, lifeless kids don’t.” Maybe we must always begin a ‘Brian [Haw] For Mayor‘ marketing campaign.

A number of Labour MPs got here out from the home to deal with the assembly, together with many activists. Bruce Kent began his speech by thanking Brian Haw for permitting the demo to make use of his again backyard, and Brian later got here from his protest on the entrance of the sq. to deal with the assembly.

This time the federal government bought its vote, however there might be later events to oppose Trident, in addition to the persevering with actions at Faslane which these on the demo have been urged to participate in.

Trident alternative remains to be persevering with in 2025, with the federal government being dedicated to the constructing of 4 alternative submarines by the early 2030s and an extension to the lifetime of the Trident missiles doubtlessly to the early 2060s in addition to work happening now to supply alternative nuclear warheads within the 2030s. It is a vital assist to the UK arms business however of little or no army consequence with its obscene price threatening our capacity to defend the nation by standard means and it stays – like all nuclear weapons – a particular risk to the peace and way forward for the world.

Many extra photos on My London Diary starting right here.

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Tags: 2007, Brian Haw, CND, important mass, cyclists, fish on a bicycle, Greenpeace, Home of Commons, Homes of Parliament, London, New Labour, nuclear deterrent, nuclear conflict, off your bike, parliament, parliament sq., Parliament Sq. Peace Camp, Pat Arrowsmith, peter Marshall, police, protest, protesters, Tony Blair, Trident, Trident alternative, WMD

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