On 16 June, an International Day of Action was held to call on all countries to ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), and for all nuclear weapon states to get rid of them.
There were demonstrations making these demands in Paris and Berlin, and letters were handed in to the British nuclear weapons bases at Faslane and Coulport.
The day of action was just ahead of the first review meeting (in Vienna) of the 65 countries who have so far ratified or acceded to the TPNW (see p9 for a report on the meeting).
In London, Trident Ploughshares organised protests with the support of CND. Activists held half-hour vigils, one after the other, at the Russian, French and German embassies, followed by a vigil at Downing Street. We attempted to hand in a statement of our demands at each location. We also displayed banners and leafleted the public.
Those taking part in the event included reverend Nagase from the London Peace Pagoda and sister Maruta from the Milton Keynes Peace Pagoda. They drummed and chanted at each embassy and drummed while walking.
At the French embassy, we were joined by the Raised Voices choir who sang anti-nuclear and peace songs and by two Veterans for Peace (VFP). Alan Chick read out a statement on behalf of VFP calling for an end to the threat of nuclear war. We repeated the same pattern at the German embassy and at Downing Street.