Association for Defending Victims of Terrorism – Hundreds gathered at RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk yesterday to reject the presence of US nuclear weapons in Britain after a report detailed Washington’s plans to deploy warheads across Europe.
Protesters arrived from Bradford, Sheffield, Nottingham, Manchester and Merseyside with banners opposing Nato, raising them at the airbase’s perimeter fences.
Veterans from previous struggles including Greenham Common stood alongside those attending an anti-nuclear demonstration for the first time.
Malcolm Wallace of transport union TSSA made the journey from his Essex home to stress the importance of stopping the US from placing nuclear weapons on British soil.
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) general secretary Kate Hudson welcomed those that had made the journey to the base in the East Anglian countryside.
The organisation’s vice-chair Tom Unterrainer explained that though the nuclear missiles were housed in Britain, they would not be under the democratic control of Westminster.
“They could be launched without consultation, no discussion in our Parliament, no opportunity and no room for dissent in our democratic institutions,” he told the crowd.
The demonstration was organised by CND and Stop the War after expert Hans Kristiansen discovered details of the nuclear missile plans in a recent US Department of Defence financial report.
It is not known when the nuclear missiles will arrive, or even if they are already at Lakenheath. The British and US governments will neither confirm nor deny their presence.
