70 arrests at British military HQ blockade

Press release Sunday 19th January 20:10
Voices in the Wilderness UK http://www.voicesuk.org
0845 458 2564/ 0794 7839992

70 arrests at military HQ anti war blockade

70 anti war activist have been arrested at Britain's military HQ, Northwood,
after blocking the main gate for over 8 hours and a side gate for 90 minutes.
A crowd of 400 had gathered in the road in front of the main gate in a good-natured gathering as a samba band and a cycle powered sound system played.

The blockade got off to an early start as 6 anti war activists from Oxford arrived at 9 am with a 5-foot wide pair of purple Y-fronts, which they locked their arms inside. The pants were decorated with a slogan "War is pants" (pics available). By 2pm the activists had been cut out of their pants by police with metal cutting apparatus. Meanwhile 4 other activists had locked themselves to the side gate in Atria Road where they were arrested for highway obstruction.

The blockade was organised by Voices in the Wilderness UK, ARROW
(Active Resistance to the Roots of War) and the D10 group. The action is the
second day of a weekend of non-violent direct action against war at Northwood.

This event is the latest in a series of non-violent direct actions as the
growing anti war movement responds with increasing urgency to the threat of
war. In December Voices in the Wilderness staged Warzone Whitehall, a mass
sit down in Whitehall. 2 weeks later the Gloucester Weapons Inspectors
staged a mass weapons inspection at USAF Fairford, expected to host US B2
stealth bombers. Today's arrest tally is the largest at a peace protest in
England since the first Gulf War in 1991. (1)

A sit down protest is being organised by ARROW (http://www.j-n-v.org) after the
Stop the War march on 15 February and next Sunday 26th January the
Gloucestershre Weapons Inspectors will return to Fairford (http://www.gwi.org).

Richard Byrne of ARROW and Voices in the Wilderness said, "War on Iraq will
bring death to hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis. The UN says the
consequences of another Gulf War would be worse than the 1991 war.(2) Today,
Britain's military HQ has been effectively closed by ordinary people
prepared to put their liberty on the line for peace. To stop this war people have to
move from dissent to disobedience. That's why over 3000 people in the UK have
signed a pledge of resistance to engage in nonviolent direct action
against the so-called war on terrorism. If this Government backs the US war
on Iraq they will encounter civil disobedience on an unprecedented scale."

0845 458 2564/ 0794 7839992
(1) 11th hour action, midnight on 15th January. 75 arrests Organised by Gulf War Resisters, who later became ARROW
(2) Leaked draft UN assessment, see http://www.casi.org.uk for full text.
Sign the pledge of resistance to the "war on terrorism"
http://www.j-n-v.org