Wool against weapons ‘trial runs’

IssueAugust 2014
News by Lotte Reimer

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On 5 July, a 120-metre-long pink scarf, knitted by opponents of nuclear weapons, was unfurled through the centre of Knighton (Tref-y-clawdd).

The unfurling procession was led by a town crier, joined by the Teme Valley Ceilidh Band, hand-bell ringers, the Pales Peace Choir and a huge Welsh red dragon.

Many local residents offered their support to the knitters. Knighton resident Karen Plant said: ‘This protest has been fun but it has a serious message, namely the scrapping of Trident, Britain’s nuclear weapons programme, and the plans for a future replacement. Nuclear weapons can never be used again. They are immoral and have the potential to kill millions of people.’

Knighton resident Angie Zelter, co-founder of Action AWE and Wool Against Weapons, said: ‘It is wonderful to see so many local people joining in our colourful and creative protest. It is a wake-up call to our government to disarm Trident and play a positive role in global disarmament rather than renewing Trident, which only endangers us all by encouraging more countries to get nuclear weapons’.

A week before, Borth knitters displayed their 42-metre scarf in Aberystwyth, accompanied by radical choir Côr Gobaith, to raise local awareness.

The scarves will now go on to form part of a seven-mile-long scarf knitted by opponents of nuclear arms from around the world to stretch along the route between the two parts of the Atomic Weapons Establishment in Berkshire on 9 August, the anniversary of the Nagasaki bombing.


Topics: Nuclear weapons
See more of: Wales