PLYMOUTH ANTI-TRIDENT DEMO - Report + video

national | miscellaneous | news report Wednesday February 06, 2002 04:51 by ian - i-contact video network ian at videonetwork dot org Bristol +44(0)117-914-0188

HMS Vanguard – a trident class nuclear submarine arrived in Plymouth, in a blaze of media glory for a long overdue refit, circled by an impregnable ring of police boats. Hundreds of anti-nuclear protesters had travelled from across the country to demonstrate at her arrival. The demo marched around the dockyards, then sat down at the dockyard's gates and observed a moment of silence. The march then finished peacefully and dispersed, but six Trident Ploughshares protestors who stayed behind to block one of the gates were arrested for obstruction.

watch the film :
http://dek.spc.org/i-contact/ram/plym_AntiTrident_2002.ram

Reports + photos :
http://uk.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=21649

Puddings not Genocide report:
What an amazingly revolutionary day! Around 20,000 people from all over the UK turned up at Plymouth to ‘welcome’ trident into Devonport. The police were hopelessly out numbered and it wasn’t long before the fences surrounding the base had been pulled down in scenes reminiscent of Quebec. As hundreds of people stormed into the compound, a cheer went up from the crowd and police lines at the gates were forced aside. The next ten minutes were chaos as police and military personnel ran around the base trying to round up those inside. A little while later we heard that a group had made it to the water front and had taken a hammer to the delicate electronic equipment on the conning tower of the trident sub…

Okay so that’s just wishful thinking. Actually there were perhaps 250 people who marched around the perimeter of the docks pausing for token sit down protests at five of the gates. Police outnumbered protesters… in fact the number of hired mini buses used by the police probably outnumbered those on the march. Seven plucky Ploughshares people decided they’d walked far enough and refused to move from the gates of HMS Drake where they were sat. Subsequently they were removed and arrested by the altogether good-natured officers of the Devon & Cornwall Constabulary (but then again they’re still prepared to deprive people of their liberty, flying in the face of the illegality of weapons of mass destruction…). This and moments of creative improvisation on the usual tired and overused slogans, as well as some cheeky flyposting, helped to offset the tedious omnipresence of the parasitic, megaphone-wielding and hardly inspiring Socialist Worker party (anyone wanna buy a paper?).

Ahem…

Numerous times before we have seen that when people feel strongly enough about something, they can make a difference. Maybe Trident in Plymouth isn’t such an issue but at least some people cared enough to be there. Those people may have gone away having made connections that will change their own lives and help to create a better future. Who can tell?

So if you read the first paragraph and thought – yeah! nice one! - then get together with others who feel the same way and make it happen. If not you - then who? If not now - then when?

Puddings not Genocide is an adhoc Affinity group formed to stop bad stuff! We form part of Earth First!, a network of autonomous groups and individuals using direct action and non-hierarchical organisation to defend people and planet from the destructive forces of greed and profit. Rah!
See www.eco-action.org/ef/

more info :
Campaign Against Nuclear Storage and Radiation http://www.westcountrylinks.co.uk/cansar/