Christian peace activists marked Ash Wednesday, 5 March, with civil disobedience and public acts of repentance. In London, members of Pax Christi, the London Catholic Worker and Christian CND prayed and circled the MoD building, calling for the government to cancel the Trident nuclear submarine programme. Ray Towey, Martin Newell and Scott Albrecht marked the building with crosses using charcoal and ash blessed at the beginning of the service. Scott was the only person to be detained; he will discover if he is to be charged in May.
In California, USA, five people were arrested during an Ash Wednesday service at the gates of Beale air force base, site of the Global Hawk surveillance drone, which carries out reconnaissance for the armed Predator drone. Demonstrators spread ashes memorialising the children killed by US drones overseas.
In Liverpool, Pax Christi, CND, Friends of Palestine, and others remembered the victims of drone strikes in a ceremony outside the University of Liverpool, involved in drones research. At Faslane naval base, the Glasgow Catholic Worker held a rainswept service.