Lakenheath Action Group
A campaigning for the withdrawal of US bombs from Britain
Lakenheath 8 go to trial in Ipswich 2 years after the action
On
3rd November the Lakenheath 8 had their final pre-trial review. The
trial will take place from December 1st - 4th at Ipswich Crown Court,
two years and two months after their taking action to prevent more
innocent victims in the continuing bombing of Iraq and Afghanistan
undertaken by US planes from USAF Lakenheath in Suffolk. . (Crown court
applies to the venue, not this trial, which will be heard by a District
Judge).On the 2nd October 2006, 8 people locked themselves to the gate of the Special Munitions Store at RAF Lakenheath in order to stop the use of those weapons and in order to secure evidence of War Crimes.
They phoned the MOD police to request their presence on an allegation that war crimes were being committed.
The Lakenheath 8 had locked their bodies to the gates to prevent the deployment of weapons, including cluster bombs, and secured the evidence for investigation for as long as possible. After 3 hours they were forcibly removed by a specialist MOD cutting team.
The 8 were some of the first to be arrested under the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act section 128, and were further charged with criminal damage for cutting through the fence.
At the pre-trial review the defence won the right to call expert witness, Rae McGrath, Nobel Laureate and expert on cluster bombs. McGrath has also been heavily involved in the Oslo agreement on cluster munitions. He will, however, be attending the trial to give evidence rather than attending the signing of the Oslo agreement in Norway.
Following a statement from the Minister of State on 4 December 2006 on the use of cluster munitions, Parliament reconsidered these weapons and the humanitarian considerations arising from deploying such indiscriminate bombs.
Hansard reported on 20 March 2007 that 'dumb' cluster bombs would be withdrawn from service with immediate effect. Parliament also confirmed that it would also work towards an international ban on their use in the future. Britain is one of 107 countries to be signing the International Convention on Cluster Munitions in Oslo - on the 1st - 3rd December 2008.
However, the UK ban will not stop cluster bombs being deployed by the US and stored at US military bases across the UK. The Lakenheath 8 are among many campaigners calling for the removal of cluster bombs from UK soil and a ban on their use internationally.
Mell Harrison said ' After years of campaigning using prescribed democratic process, still the bombs were falling. Seeing the bombs inside Lakenheath and the images of children screaming, and with missing limbs in the media, we had to take direct action ourselves to stop these war crimes'
More info on the Oslo agreement at
http://www.stopclustermunitions.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/englishfinaltext.pdf
and lots more at http://www.stopclustermunitions.org/
including people's treaty to sign
http://www.minesactioncanada.org/peoples_treaty/index.cfm
US Nukes Removed from USAF Lakenheath in Suffolk!
Eastern Region CND and Lakenheath Action Group have received the news that US tactical nuclear weapons have been removed from USAF Lakenheath with open arms!
Lakenheath in Suffolk has housed up to 110 nuclear weapons for many years and Lakenheath action Group and CND have campaigned against them.
Mell Harrison, Eastern Region CND campaigns and Lakenheath action group member said ‘ This is fantastic news, but its very interesting that the US government has kept this secret. We would like this news to be ‘confirmed or denied’ by the base and also like to know if these nukes where flown out over the UK’. She also commented on security at the base ‘As one of the activists that have entered USAF Lakenheath a few times I am fully aware of just how inadequate the security is on these US bases and our concerns on this were confirmed by a US military report the Blue Ribbon report a few weeks ago’
CND and Lakenheath action group have vowed to keep a close eye on these US bases and have concerns about USAF Lakenheath being used as a future base for National missile Defence interceptor missiles.
Pete Lux , Theatre of War actor-vist and Eastern Region CND added ‘ USAF Lakenheath is still involved in the bombing of Afghanistan and Iraq, Still houses Cluster bombs and is still involved in war crimes. The protests will not stop, but we can at least celebrate the removal of the Nuclear bombs stored at the site.’
Lakenheath action Group, CND and Theatre of War will be adding to the ‘Independence FROM America’ protest planned at USAF Feltwell ( USAF Lakenheath sister base) on 4th July at 5.30pm with a celebration for ‘ Independence FROM US nukes!‘join us in making a 20 meter banner line away from the Feltwell fence so that the activists on bail conditions after an action at Lakenheath to stay 20m away can still attend and be part of the celebration and protest.
Contact Mell Harrison on 08453370282 mellcndeast@cnduk.org