It rained, hailed, snowed, breezed, sunshined and was generally freezing on Easter Monday at AWE Aldermaston in Berkshire. Nevertheless, an estimated 5,000 anti-nukes protestors braved the weather to celebrate 50 years on from the first march to the nuclear weapons factory on Easter Monday 1958.

The crowd was definitely mixed; there were Quakers, peaceniks, hippies, anarcho-types, families, Greenham veterans, clowns, locals, choirs, politicians… Not to mention coppers.

Conveniently, the draconian SOCPA byelaws were dropped for the day. These bye-laws have been the bane of the 23 year old Aldermaston women’s campaign (see here and here for past CW reports on AWE Aldermaston and the Women’s Camp).

Speeches for the cause were provided by a travelling platform featuring, as you might expect, Labour lefties Jeremy Corbyn MP and John McDonnell MP (McDonnell in surprisingly radical mood), and Green MEP, Dr. Caroline Lucas. Other speakers included: Walter Wolfgang (you may recall that he was thrown out of the Labour party conference for being outspokenly anti-war three years ago) and Vivienne Westwood (clothes designer and one-time self-professed anarchist) and a Hiroshima survivor. This travelling platform visited each gate and was generally welcomed by the crowds.

We were at Construction Gate where – after the speakers’ float had passed – we were entertained by: a battery-powered recording of an account of the first march to Aldermaston, Bristol’s Red Notes choir and Côr Cochion Caerdydd (Cardiff’s Red Choir), and, of course, the Clandestine Insurrectionary Rebel Clown Army. The cacophany of clowns’caterwauling mixing with the choirs’ song made for nice atonal harmony(!)

At 2pm, we went to position ourselves around the base.

Once in position, at 2.30pm, much noise was heard from the crowd surrounding the 5 mile perimeter.

The bomb didn’t exactly stop on Easter Monday and still continues to reap big fat rewards for the consortium that own AWE Aldermaston (AWE ml: a consortium of Lockheed Martin, BNFL and Serco). So until the bomb *does* stop, there are the monthly Block the Builders blockades and, of course, the Women’s Camp will continue; check out their websites for more information.

And there is a big blockade planned for the 27th October too.

More reports about the day

• ‘Thousands say “knickers to the byelaws”‘, Aldermaston Women’s Peace Camp
• Aldermaston 2008: Easter Monday pics
• Charlie Harvey: 2008 The Bomb Stops Here
• CND UK
• ‘Aldermaston Anniversary’, Indymedia
• ‘AWE Aldermaston, the view from Construction Gate. 25.03.08′, Indymedia
• ‘Nottingham, Leicester and Lougborough Join Aldermaston Blockade – an audio piece’, Indymedia
• ‘Rochdale doves descend on Aldermaston’, Indymedia.
• ‘The Stopping Non Stop Walk Aldermaston to London’, Indymedia

Videos

• Sian Jones of Aldermaston Women’s Peace Camp on Trident
• Kent Student CND
• Aldermaston 2008 – The Bomb Stops here
• A Sleety windy Easter Monday at Aldermaston
• Aldermaston and Cor Cochion
• Aldermaston 08 Margaret Thatcher vs Miner
• Positioning around Aldermaston