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Thirty B52 Support Vehicles Disabled at RAF Fairford
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Friday March 14, 2003 19:34 by Eoin Dubsky - Refueling Peace info at refuelingpeace dot org 087-6941060
Lessons for peace movement in Ireland Last night, Thursday 13th March, at RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire two Trident Ploughshares activists disabled no less than thirty vehicles which provide essential support to the US B52 bombers stationed there. Freelance writer Margaret Jones (53), from Bristol, and Quaker activist Paul Milling (58), from Birmingham, planned to stick labels onto all the vehicles to warn they had been tampered with. They carried with them bags of sugar to contaminate the fuel, grinding paste and treacle to add to the oil systems, spikes to puncture the tyres, and crowbars & hammers to damage the vehicles. They reasoned the bombers would be very closely guarded but guessed the "Achilles Heel" might be the fleet of specialist support vehicles which are used to service, refuel, and load bombs onto the aircraft. The bombers have been recently moved to the Gloucestershire base and in the event of war will be used to "carpet-bomb" Iraq. Last night a group of the aircraft took off from RAF Fairford on an exercise and were refuelled in the air over Northumberland. In a phone call from Stroud Police Station early this morning Margaret Jones said: "We managed to carry out our planned action very successfully. We evaded the police patrols, cut through the perimeter fence, and got into the garages which were unguarded. We managed to disable some thirty vehicles. With our politicians out of democratic control it is up to ordinary citizens to stop the war machine. I could not bear the thought of these bombers taking off from our country, flying thousands of miles to Iraq, and dropping their cargoes of death on ordinary people. We felt we The spectacular disarmament action comes just three days after Trident Ploughshares activist Ulla Roder inflicted severe damage, estimated in millions of pounds, to a Tornado jet at RAF Leuchars in Fife. Contacts Roland Dye 07711-214-168
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Jump To Comment: 6 5 4 3 2 1Further to richie's comments it does show that the minority wish to take action for the majority! I am neither pro war or anti war and feel disgusted that you carry out these kinds of actions and claim it is in my name. Saying our politicians are out of control is just plain ignorance and shows the stupidity of these people, (if the acts themselves didnt!!!!) I produce films which feature military aircraft heavily, this means i must be gloryfying it??? Hell, ok, you want to come and sabotage my video equipment then? Cool, address available on request! Meanwhile anyone who is stupid enough to break into a military site and attempt what amounts to treason should expect anything and everything they get,after all USAF bases can and are often soveriegn soil so US law may apply, ooops bang bang welcome to little texas in glos.!
So 30 vehicles get dissabled. Do two wrongs make a right? Lets do an illegal act to stop an "illegal" war? Not only are you endagering the lives of all the military personnel, which are also people in case you forgot, but you are also causing more tax dollars to be spent fixing what you have broken. People also make comments to have more of this.
I have an idea. You all give me your address so that I can break into your home and take your food. You see, its expensive here and I dont "feel" that I want to pay this much for it, and I also "feel" that it is wrong for you to have food and not me. So I "feel" that it is ok for an ordinary person to take action into his own hands.
Get your feelings out of the way people. Sadam is a terrorist. 12 years of talking has not worked. Should we talk for another 12? how about 50? Where is the line?
Yet it's being ignored by all the mainstream media.
Probably just as well as CNN would label every direct actionist a terrorist and much of the American public would believe them
Protesters break into RAF base
Danny Penman and agencies
Friday March 14, 2003
Two anti-war protesters who last night broke into an RAF base housing American B-52 bombers will appear in court later today.
The protest at RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire is part of an ongoing worldwide campaign against the impending war in Iraq. Rallies, protests, sit-ins, and marches have today been held in Australia, Turkey, Iraq, Malaysia and Russia.
Further protests are planned over the next few days for Germany, Bangladesh, Jordan, Egypt and several American cities.
In the Fairford protest, a man and a woman allegedly cut their way through a fence and damaged several vehicles. The Ministry of Defence said the pair got "nowhere near aircraft" at the RAF base but refused to specify which vehicles were damaged or what was done to them. The MoD said it was now reviewing security at the base.
A 54-year-old woman from Bristol and a man of 57 from Birmingham were charged with conspiracy to commit damage, criminal damage, and aggravated trespass. They will appear in court this afternoon.
Last weekend police arrested 19 protesters after a perimeter fence was allegedly cut. Nine people were charged with aggravated trespass.
Fourteen long-range B-52 bombers arrived at RAF Fairford last week. They are expected to be at the forefront of an initial attack against Iraq.
In Australia, the prime minister, John Howard, was pelted with eggs during a visit to Adelaide.
In Turkey, two dozen Greenpeace activists chained themselves to the wheels of a truck blocking an entrance to the port of Iskenderun, where US forces were unloading military equipment.
Police dragged away the demonstrators while dozens of Turkish soldiers holding assault rifles reinforced the entrance. The protesters tied banners to both sides of the truck reading "No war, US go home".
"If the US is so intent on disarmament, it should start at home," said Greenpeace activist Banu Dokmecibasi. "It is the United States that possesses the world's most sophisticated weaponry and it is the United States that holds the world's largest arsenal of weapons of mass destruction."
Police detained the demonstrators, including activists from Turkey, Britain, Australia, Belgium and Lebanon.
Greenpeace also staged a demonstration in Moscow demanding that President Vladimir Putin strengthen the anti-war coalition and block a UN security council war resolution on Iraq. Two climbers clad in bright orange vests hung a huge poster that read "Veto War" on a span of a bridge across the Moscow river. A rubber dinghy rushed at full speed to and fro along the Moscow River with a poster saying "No war".
A Greenpeace spokeswoman in London said Greenpeace opposed the war because "it would have devastating human and environmental consequences".
"A conventional war, in which no nuclear, chemical or biological weapons were used, could kill over a quarter of a million people, most of them civilians. Famine disease and social dislocation could kill another 250,000.
"If the war escalates to involve chemical or nuclear attack, casualties could be as high as four million, and there would be a legacy of toxic and nuclear contamination to deal with for generations to come."
About 500 people held a protest near the American embassy in Malaysia's capital, Kuala Lumpur. Chanting "Destroy Bush", and "Long Live Islam", the protestors marched from a mosque toward the US embassy. They were stopped by scores of riot policemen armed with automatic weapons, batons and water cannons. Scuffles broke out when some demonstrators tried to force their way through the police barricade.
· Two protesters who sneaked inside a £2bn Trident nuclear submarine in November last year appeared in court today and were given a conditional discharge. The pair, who pledged to continue campaigning, were convicted at Plymouth magistrates' court of causing damage valued at £293 to a fence which they cut through before scrambling on board HMS Vanguard at Devonport naval base.
And the inspired bicycle invasion at Lakenheath!
If this is true, then it is fanastic news. Well done!
Lets have a lot more of this.