August 2014
IN THIS E-BULLETIN
ACTION CAMP PARTICIPANTS ARRESTED IN GERMANY, Activists block train carrying uranium ore
THREE MEN ARRESTED PROTESTING “DEAD-ICATION” OF NEW KANSAS CITY NUCLEAR WEAPONS PARTS PLANT
HIROSHIMA & NAGASAKI DAY ARRESTS ACROSS THE U.S.
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Action camp participants arrested in Germany, activists block train carrying uranium ore
There were arrests stemming from three different action camps in Germany during August.
KIEL
On the morning of August 18, a couple of days after the end of the anti-nuclear action camp in Kiel, a train pulling 50 uranium containers departed the Hamburg-South station. It soon came to a stop where two people were locked together inside tubes placed under the rails. Another pair of activists locked themselves together under a rail behind it. The shipment was stalled for over four hours while police cut through the locking devices and arrested the blockaders.
BÜCHEL
During another action camp in Germany, participants blocked three gates at the Büchel air force base, where U.S. nuclear weapons are stored and maintained. Police cleared the Lutzerather gate early in the morning of August 6, Hiroshima Day. A dozen blockaders were cleared away, and most only had their IDs checked at the site. Two who did not carry ID were taken to the station, as was the last man cleared from the blockade. He had locked his neck to the iron bars of the gate and police carried him along with the opening gate out of the way before cutting the gate to free him. All three were charged with coercion, and others received notices from the police in the mail.
MAGDEBURG
Tents were pitched for the War Starts Here action base camp on August 17, just outside the boundaries of the sprawling European Battle Simulation Center at Altmark, Germany. Despite a large military presence patrolling the 175-square mile site, over the next week groups of campers entered on three different days. On the last day, 60 people embarked on a colorful parade under the eyes of police, and established their peace village on a beautiful heath inside the war games area. It took police working in the rain until the next day to roust them all from the grounds, record their IDs, and send them off.
Read more here.
Three men arrested protesting “dead-ication” of new Kansas City nuclear weapons parts plant
Four years after a series of civil resistance arrests and jailings began to protest groundbreaking for construction of the United States’ first entirely new nuclear weapons factory in decades, three people were arrested on August 22 while speaking out against the official dedication of the new Kansas City Plant.
While politicos and war industrialists assembled to bless the massive, tastefully landscaped industrial facility, Jim Hannah, Henry Stoever and Mark Bartholomew stepped across the property line at the entry to the facility’s long driveway. Kansas City police took the men into custody.
Read more here.
Hiroshima & Nagasaki Day arrests across the U.S.
THE PENTAGON
To commemorate the 69th year since the U.S. began the Nuclear Age by dropping an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, members of the Atlantic Life Community participated in a August 6 noon-time silent peace witness at the Pentagon. Carrying banners reading “Remember the Past, Repent the Sin, Reclaim the Future – Hiroshima and Nagasaki” and “Abolish Nuclear Weapons,” the group initially gathered on the sidewalk instead of going into the police designated protest zone located behind a fence. Liz McAlister, Kathy Boylan and Eric Martin refused to comply with the warnings to move to the designated area. They were arrested, given charges of “disobeying a lawful order” and released.
LIVERMORE LABS
Anti-nuclear activists gathered for a rally and nonviolent direct action at California’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory on August 6. After a moment of silence at 8:15 a.m. – the time that the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima in 1945 – some of the protesters blocked the lab’s west gate. About 30 people were arrested by Alameda County sheriffs, cited for trespassing and released.
LOCKHEED MARTIN, PENNSYLVANIA
Seven activists crossed the property line of Lockheed Martin in King of Prussia on August 6. They were there with other protesters to mark the anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Intending on walking to the main lobby entrance of the world’s #1 war profiteer and weapons supplier, they were immediately stopped by Lockheed Martin security backed up by Upper Merion police and police cruisers blocking the drive. The activists were arrested, cuffed and taken to the police station where they were cited for disorderly conduct and released.
VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE
On August 9, the 69th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, 30 Catholic Workers and friends held a vigil and nonviolent direct action at Vandenberg Air Force Base on California’s central coast. Five people were arrested after blocking the entrance road to the base with a large banner which read “Hiroshima Never Again”. They were cited for trespassing and released an hour and a half later at Vandenberg Village. A court date is pending.
NAVAL BASE KITSAP-BANGOR
Peace activists in Washington state rolled out a 60-foot-long scarf at a nuclear weapons base in a demonstration against the Trident nuclear weapons system on August 9, the anniversary of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki. Five of them walked on to the Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor entrance lanes of Highway 3/Luoto Road carrying the scarf. Another participant, a Buddhist monk, entered the roadway drumming and chanting. Washington State Patrol troopers removed all six protesters and the scarf from the roadway. They were cited on the scene for being on the roadway illegally, and released. The scarf was associated with the Wool Against Weapons project initiated in the United Kingdom. Also on August 9, activists there stretched a seven-mile-long scarf between their Atomic Weapons Establishments.
Read more here.
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