The grass verge that hosted a peace camp this July, and monthly vigils ever since, will host the CEO of the Nobel Prize winning International Campaign against Nuclear Weapons. It is by the Main Gate to USAF Lakenheath on the A 1065, the site of US nuclear weapons.
Melissa Parke, Executive Director of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), the organisation that won the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize after initiating the International Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, will speak about nuclear dangers in Europe. She will be joined by Green Party Baroness Jenny Jones, Bimal Khadka from MedAct; Kirsten Bayes, Campaign Against Arms Trade; and Peter Burt, Nukewatch, as well as local speakers Norwich councillor Gary Champion, Jenn Parkhouse for Lakenheath Alliance for Peace, Lesley Grahame for Norwich CND and musicians Dmitri van Zwanenberg, Rick Sheppard and a Samba band.
• Saturday, 2 November
• 12 noon to 3pm
• RAF Lakenheath Main Gate, Brandon Road, Lakenheath, Suffolk.* More details on parking can be found on the CND website here.
The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), Lakenheath Alliance for Peace and supporters will mobilise at RAF Lakenheath on Saturday, 2nd November, to oppose plans to station US nuclear weapons in Britain for the first time since 2008. This will be CND’s fourth national mobilisation at RAF Lakenheath since 2022, after US government budget documents revealed plans for upgrade works at the US-run air base for the storage of the new B61-12 guided nuclear bomb.
Just days before the US presidential election, the protest aims to highlight the significant impact of US foreign and military policy on the British public, and the increased nuclear dangers brought by deploying its nuclear weapons in Britain – by whoever wins the White House. Attendees will also witness an unofficial declaration of Lakenheath as a nuclear-free zone, and calls for both the UK and other nuclear weapons states to engage with the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
Melissa Parke, Executive Director of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons said:
“Whether it’s the United States deploying its bombs at Lakenheath, or across the North Sea in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany – not to mention Italy and Türkiye – or whether it’s Russia putting its weapons in Belarus, having more nuclear weapons in more countries increases the likelihood they will be used and that threatens all of us wherever we are in the world. Real security doesn’t lie in nuclear weapons, it lies in getting rid of them and the way to do that is to join the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons which the majority of countries support.”
As local CND member John Marais wrote to Clive Lewis: “As an MP for a constituency which is going to have American B61-12 nuclear missiles positioned just 40 miles away at the USAF Lakenheath base it must surely be your duty to protect the welfare of your constituents? When the missiles arrive, all East Anglians will be immediately placed in the bulls-eye of a potential nuclear target. Why didn’t any of you at least attempt to raise some concerns? “
ENDS
Notes to editors
*Parking is available at the RAF Lakenheath viewing area but not at the main gate. More details here.
Further information Lakenheath Alliance for Peace website https://lakenheathallianceforpeace.org.uk/
CNDUK Contact: Pádraig McCarrick – 07968 420859
Local contact: Lesley Grahame 07711 298214
If you need transport from Norwich please contact Norwich CND by emailing sue.wright44@icloud.com
A shuttle service will be available from Brandon station – it’s essential to email sue.wright44@icloud.com to book your place
If you’re driving to the protest, please park at the RAF Lakenheath viewing area, where a shuttle will then take you to the main gate.
More information at: https://cnduk.org/events/stop-us-nukes-national-demon
Lesley
Lesley Grahame
Tel 01603 920801
Mob 07711 298214
Twitter @LesleyJGrahame