Spring 2025

IN THIS E-BULLETIN

TWO BLOCKADES AT LAKENHEATH BASE

SIX ARRESTED AT KANSAS CITY NUCLEAR PLANT 

MOTHER’S DAY ACTION AT BANGOR TRIDENT NUCLEAR SUB BASE  

ARREST AT HOLLOMAN DRONE BASE PROTEST

MLK DAY & GOOD FRIDAY ACTIONS AT LOCKHEED MARTIN

CATHOLIC PRIEST ARRESTED FOR JEJU NAVAL BASE PROTEST

ASH WEDNESDAY WITNESS AT RAYTHEON

17 ARRESTS IN SUPPORT OF NUCLEAR BAN TREATY

LENTEN RESISTANCE AT THE MINISTRY OF DEFENCE

HOLY WEEK PEACE WALKERS ARRESTED

BUY YOUR NUCLEAR RESISTER T-SHIRT TODAY!

PLEASE SUPPORT IMPRISONED ANTI-NUCLEAR AND ANTI-WAR ACTIVISTS – THE NUCLEAR RESISTER NEEDS YOU! 

Two blockades at Lakenheath base  

Calling for no U.S. nuclear weapons in Britain, two blockades at Lakenheath base at the end of April resulted in 10 arrests, during a two week international peace camp. On April 25, fourteen women, intersex, non-binary and trans activists (FINT) – aged from 24 to 91 – held a blockade of the main gate, denouncing the deadly entanglements between militarism, climate change, authoritarianism and genocide. Ten activists were topless with chains around their wrists and tape over their mouths to expose the vulnerability and silencing faced by FINT people under systems of war, climate collapse and oppression. Three were then arrested after leaving the road. They were first charged with indecent exposure, which was changed to “coming equipped” because of the symbolic chains they used.

The next day, April 26, protesters converged from Oxford, Cambridge, Norwich, London, Leicester, Manchester and Birmingham, with flags and banners from the many campaign groups – Trident Ploughshares, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) groups, Quakers who led silent worships, Buddhists from Nipponzan Myohoji Pagodas who drummed, Communists singing the Internationale, XR Rhythms drummers, Red Rebels. Over 250 people sat down in the road outside the main gate. After several hours, police asked the blockaders to leave. Most of the protesters gradually moved off the entrance roadway, and seven people were eventually arrested.  

Read more here. 

Six arrested at Kansas City nuclear plant 

In anticipation of the May 19 protest at the Kansas City National Security Campus, where 80% of the electrical and mechanical parts for the U.S. nuclear arsenal are made, campus security closed the plant’s main gate, diverting arriving workers to another entrance. After a few thousand workers drove by two dozen protesters holding their signs, six of the nuclear abolition activists – four from the Kansas City area and the other two from Wisconsin and Iowa – were arrested when they crossed the purple boundary line. They are scheduled to appear in court at the end of June for their arraignments.  

Read more here. 

Mother’s Day action at Bangor Trident nuclear sub base 

On May 10, Mother’s Day weekend, 60 people gathered for a protest at the Bangor Trident nuclear submarine base. Eight of the demonstrators blocked the base’s main highway entrance for over ten minutes and were cited by the Washington State Patrol. They carried large banners and signs stating, “Abolish Nuclear Weapons,” “Nuclear Weapons are Illegal” and “Nuclear Weapons are Immoral to Use, Immoral to Have, Immoral to Make.” Some of the blockaders wore t-shirts that read, “Ban the Bomb” and “Pope Francis Said Possessing Nuclear Weapons is Immoral.”

Read more here.

Arrest at Holloman drone base protest

Anti-drone activists from across the U.S. shut down the West Gate entrance at New Mexico’s Holloman Air Force Base early in the morning of April 23 for nearly an hour. Toby Blomé was arrested after lying down on pavement in front of a stalled car. She was handcuffed, detained, cited on a federal trespassing charge and released. Holloman, in southern New Mexico, has the largest drone training program in the U.S., where over 700 drone pilots and operators graduate annually.     
 
Read more here.

MLK Day & Good Friday actions at Lockheed Martin

MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. DAY

Activist Paul Sheldon was arrested on January 20, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day at Lockheed Martin in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. He crossed onto Lockheed Martin property and handed a copy of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons to the head of security. He was not allowed to proceed further before being arrested and cited with trespass. Lockheed Martin plays a significant role in the U.S. nuclear weapons program, and is the world’s largest weapons manufacturer.     

Read more here.

GOOD FRIDAY

An interfaith peace witness on April 18 (Good Friday and Passover) led to the arrest of 25 activists who crossed the property line of Lockheed Martin in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. Over two hundred people of faith and conscience – from Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist and Quaker communities – gathered to pray, sing songs of peace and call for a ceasefire in Gaza, before silently moving toward the entrance of the war profiteer’s facility.   

Read more here.

Catholic priest arrested for Jeju naval base protest      

On February 26, police arrested Fr. Sung Hwan Kim on charges of obstruction of business and obstruction of official business for blocking a bus at South Korea’s Jeju Naval Base last October. The bus was carrying U.S. troops from a U.S. nuclear submarine support ship. Fr. Kim is a peacekeeper in Gangjeong and director of the St. Francis Peace Center. A statement from supporters condemned the police who responded to peaceful actions of nonviolent civil disobedience with arrest, saying: “Jeju is not a U.S. colony! Close the Jeju Naval Base that is turning Jeju into an outpost of the U.S. against China!”   

Read more here.

Ash Wednesday witness at Raytheon

John Heid and Elizabeth Murray with the Pacific Life Community were arrested on March 5 when they crossed onto the property of Tucson, Arizona’s Raytheon weapons factory to share their Ash Wednesday message for a nuclear-free future with workers. Raytheon is the sole-source contractor for a multi-billion dollar program to develop and produce the Long-Range Stand-Off (LRSO) missile, an all-new nuclear-armed cruise missile. John Heid stated, “While there are many pressing issues in these times, the doomsday clock keeps ticking. The nuclear weapons industry quietly metastasizes before our very eyes. If we don’t pay attention and resist, nukes will have the last word. The very last.”     

Read more here.

17 arrests in support of nuclear ban treaty 

On March 5, seventeen activists were arrested in New York City at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations during a demonstration in support of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Participants had asked for a meeting with the interim U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. and were refused. Others blocked First Avenue with a giant banner reading “U.S. Join the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.” The Treaty’s Third Meeting of States Parties was taking place from March 3-7 at the U.N.       

Read more here.

Lenten resistance at the Ministry of Defence 

On April 2, after a time of prayer and reflection, Ray Towey and Carmel and Dan Martin approached the front entrance of the Ministry of Defence in London. Ray climbed the steps and used charcoal to put the mark of the cross under the sign labelling the building, and wrote “Trident is genocide, choose life not terror”. After a few minutes, a group of three heavily armed MoD police officers swiftly approached. He was soon arrested for criminal damage, thoroughly searched, relieved of his possessions and taken to the Charing Cross police station. He was released seven hours later with a court date.      

Read more here.

Holy Week peace walkers arrested 

NEVADA

Three participants in the Nevada Desert Experience’s annual Sacred Peace Walk were arrested on April 16 for blockading the road leading into Creech Air Force Base. They were issued a citation for “pedestrian in the road way”, and were instructed to appear on May 28 in Las Vegas Municipal Court. Three other peace walkers were arrested a couple of days later, on Good Friday, when they crossed onto the Nevada National Security Site (formerly called the Nevada Test Site) following a Western Shoshone sunrise ceremony and Stations of the Cross procession. They were issued citations for trespass by Nye County sheriffs.   

Read more here.

CONNECTICUT

On April 17, seven participants in the Atlantic Life Community’s Holy Week peace pilgrimage in Connecticut were arrested while blocking the entrance to the engineering building at General Dynamics/Electric Boat, where the Columbia class ballistic missile submarines are under construction. Before they were arrested, together with the other peace walkers, they performed a foot washing in the road and held long banners that read “Holy Thursday: Jesus Commanded ‘Love One Another’” and “Stop Engineering the End of the World.” The Columbia fleet will carry the explosive equivalent of 18,000 Hiroshima bombs.    

Read more here.

Buy your Nuclear Resister t-shirt today!

The Gloo Factory – South Tucson’s progressive, union strong print shop – has printed buttons, stickers, signs, banners, flyers and more for the Nuclear Resister over the years… and now, they’ve made a brand new edition of the Nuclear Resister t-shirt! The t-shirts are 100% natural color, heavy-weight cotton and made in the U.S. You can buy yours now! Available in medium, large, extra large and 2x large for only $20 plus $10 shipping in the U.S. Please inquire about the cost of shipping to other countries by emailing nukeresister@igc.org.  

Purchase a t-shirt here.