Peaceful protest marks atomic bombing anniversary

Members and supporters of the grass roots campaign group Action Atomic Weapons Eradication (AAWE) held the protest on Tuesday to coincide with the atomic bombing of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during the second world war.
In a low key, peaceful protest campaigners knitted, folded Japanese peace cranes and drew shadows to represent the intense blast and radiation leaving silhouettes burnt into walls.
Member of AAWE, Angie Zelter, who has visited Hiroshima and Nagasaki, said: “With our presence here and our fasting we want to remind ourselves and the British public of the destruction of the two Japanese cities in an instant, causing instant death of hundreds of thousands of Japanese civilians, and decades of suffering for hundreds of thousands more.”
The protest is part of a three year campaign organised by AAWE, which seeks to halt nuclear weapons production at Aldermaston and to put pressure on ministers in the run-up to the next general election in May 2015 with the main decision to replace the UKs nuclear deterrent, Trident, expected in 2016.
Press spokesman for AAWE, Andreas Speck, said: “All our actions are non-violent. The police is not our opponent, nor the workers of AWE Burghfield or AWE Aldermaston. We are protesting against nuclear weapons, which are illegal under international law.
She claimed: “Crimes are being committed inside AWE Burghfield and AWE Aldermaston, and by the UK government setting out to replace Trident In breach of international law. We call on the police to investigate these crimes.”
The demonstration also took on an international dimension as the group was joined via video-link to other anti-nuclear campaigners in Paris and the air base at Büchel, Germany, which stores nuclear weapons for the US.