September/October 2018
IN THIS E-BULLETIN
BURGHFIELD BOMB FACTORY BLOCKADED BY ANTI-TRIDENT PROTESTERS
AFTER THREE DECADES, TRESPASS PROSECUTIONS RESUME AT NEVADA NUCLEAR TEST SITE
NONVIOLENT ACTION AT BEALE DRONE BASE
SEVEN PEACE ACTIVISTS ARRESTED AT CREECH DRONE BASE
PLEASE SUPPORT IMPRISONED ANTI-NUCLEAR AND ANTI-WAR ACTIVISTS – THE NUCLEAR RESISTER NEEDS YOU!
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Burghfield bomb factory blockaded by anti-Trident protesters
Early on the morning of October 24, a group of Trident Ploughshares activists from across the U.K. converged on Burghfield Atomic Weapons Establishment. Locked to cars or with their arms in lock-on tubes, they set up blockades on several approach roads, successfully preventing workers from entering. Some of the blockaders were still locked across the road at the end of the day. Eventually, all nine activists were arrested and charged with obstruction of the highway.
Chris Bluemel from Southampton, who blocked the South Mearings entrance to the main gate of the nuclear warhead assembly facility, said: “Although its been very uncomfortable sitting in the same position with my arm in a drainpipe all day, it’s a small sacrifice when we hear that the entire planet is being put at risk by the abandoning of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. Instead the nuclear weapons states should be signing up to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. If we have disrupted business as usual on the U.K.’s nuclear warhead refurbishment programme in even the smallest way, it’s been worth it.”
Read more here.
After three decades, trespass prosecutions resume at Nevada nuclear test site
On October 8, as part of the Nevada Desert Experience’s Justice for Our Desert event, Marc Page-Collogne, Mark Kelso and Brian Terrell stepped across the line at the Mercury gate of the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS, formerly known as the Nevada Test Site). All three men carried a permit from the Western Shoshone Nation, as they had on multiple occasions of line-crossing over the years. (The NNSS is on Western Shoshone land, in violation of the 1863 Treaty of Ruby Valley.) Police escorted them away from the road to issue citations. Kelso and Terrell produced their permits and also state-issued identification. They both received a written warning and were released. Page-Collogne presented only his permit. For many years, arresting officers accepted a Shoshone permit as identification. But no more. Lacking a recognized valid form of ID, Page-Collogne was cited for trespass and taken to jail and court in Pahrump, Nevada before being released pending trial on December 3.
It has been three decades since trespass charges have been prosecuted at the U.S. nuclear test site in Nevada. In conversations with a sheriff’s officer, it was learned that federal Department of Energy officials, who oversee Nye County’s law enforcement activity at the gate, had recently compelled the change in policy. Henceforth, those crossing the line will have their names recorded for possible future prosecution. They must present government issued ID or they will be taken to jail. A warning will be issued for a person’s first reported trespass, and prosecution will result from any subsequent line-crossing.
Read more here.
Nonviolent action at Beale drone base
Four activists were arrested early in the morning of Tuesday, October 30 after blocking the road for nearly an hour leading into California’s Beale Air Force Base. Michael Kerr, Mauro Oliveira, Shirley Osgood and Toby Blomé, who held a banner across the road reading “Stop Droning Afghanistan; 17 Years Enough!”, were detained on the drone base for 2.5 hours before being released. The four were charged with trespass. Before they were arrested, Shirley Osgood passed out copies of the Nuremberg Principles to people in their cars.
Read more here.
Seven peace activists arrested at Creech drone base
On October 4, as part of CODEPINK’s weeklong anti-drone protest at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada, protesters stepped across the base entrance road to halt traffic entering the drone base. While holding large banners across the roadway, their voices loudly called out, “Stop the murder, stop the war crimes – The people demand peace!” Unlike past actions there, the police did not give a two or five minute warning to protesters in the road to disperse or they would be arrested. Instead, police quickly began arresting people with no warning. Seven of the activists were taken into custody and transported to the Las Vegas jail. Some of them were processed and released about 12 hours later, while a couple of them remained in jail for 30 hours.
Read more here.
Please support imprisoned anti-nuclear and anti-war activists – The Nuclear Resister needs YOU!
The Nuclear Resister is a bare bones operation that depends on grassroots support to chronicle anti-nuclear and anti-war resistance, and support the women and men in prison for their acts of conscience. We need your help to continue this work – please read more here!! Or go directly here to make a secure online donation and find information about how to send a check. Each and every donation, large or small, will be gratefully received – thank you!