by New Worker correspondent

Seven peace campaigners were arrested on Sunday 26th April – the last day of the Lakenheath Alliance Peace Camp (LAP) protest outside the main gate of RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk. Although the base, located 120 km from London, is described as ‘Royal Air Force’ it is, in reality, also an American (USAF) base. Around 250 supporters of CND and the Lakenheath Peace Alliance rallied at the main gates of the air-base last weekend to prevent vehicles entering or leaving the camp.

Since 14th April LAP groups have been blocking this gate to publicly oppose the imminent return of the American B61-12 nuclear bombs to the Lakenheath silos, where the atomic B-47 and other bombs were stored in 1958 and then removed in 2008.

This 250 – person demonstration culminated other actions taken outside the base in recent days to highlight the role of USAF-Lakenheath in the genocide that Israel is perpetrating in Gaza, as well as the role played by all British and American military bases throughout the world.

To accompany the 15 days of action, the peace campaigners publicly addressed a petition letter to the base’s general command, as well as to all the American and British personnel working there.

The letter highlights their inescapable responsibility in directly or indirectly supplying the Israeli military who shamelessly defy the International Court of Justice (ICC) directive ordering them to protect Palestinian lives in Gaza. The letter urged the employes at the base to raise this matter with their superior officers because criminal responsibility cascades down the chains of command.

Beyond this, the letter publicly reminded the base commanders that the installation of the B61-12 nukes at Lakenheath – an action that the American and British governments call “nuclear sharing” – is simply an illegal act that they brazenly commit in violation of Article 1 of the Non-Proliferation Treaty that both the USA and the UK signed in 1968.

No nukes at Lakenheath!

Photo at the Air-base: