CND General Secretary Kate Hudson will address a rally outside the main gate of the US-controlled RAF Lakenheath airbase in Suffolk, on Saturday 20 July, in opposition to the return of US nuclear bombs to Britain.
A 24/7 vigil and peace camp was established outside the main gate of the base on Monday by members of the Lakenheath Alliance for Peace after a three-day march from Norwich; the camp will run until Thursday, 25 July.
CND groups and members from across Britain will be among supporters joining the rally, which will begin at 12 noon and run until 2:30pm. A full programme of events can be found here.
The rally comes after Hudson gave evidence to the Undercover Policing Inquiry on Monday. CND is a ‘core participant’ in the Inquiry, owing to the fact that it was infiltrated by undercover police officers during the 1980s at the height of CND’s mass campaigning against US cruise missiles in Britain. This activity included the setting up of peace camps and the use of non-violent direct action (NVDA) by campaigners at bases like Greenham Common.
While British intelligence reported early in the 1980s that CND did not pose a threat to national security, evidence produced at the Inquiry exposed “a clear and deeply alarming use of political undercover policing by the then Conservative government” and the “most explicit example of subverting parliamentary democracy uncovered” by the inquiry so far.
CND General Secretary Kate Hudson said:
“Having taken decisive action to stop the outbreak of nuclear war in the 1980s, Greenham Common women are among those protesting against the return of US nuclear weapons to Britain. Peace camps and NVDA are important parts of the anti-nuclear movement and have long been effective in raising awareness of nuclear dangers. Peace camps form a rallying point for all those who favour peace over war and CND encourages everyone to come and visit the camp for Saturday’s rally.
CND calls on the new British government to stop hiding behind the tired excuse of neither confirming nor denying the presence of NATO nuclear weapons in this country. It’s time for a new agenda for peace, which starts with publicly refusing the US permission to host their weapons of mass destruction in Britain.”