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The Weekly paper of the New Communist Party of Britain

No to nukes at Lakenheath!

by New Worker correspondent

Fourteen peace campaigners were arrested during a six-hour blockade of the main gates at RAF Lakenheath last week. RAF Lakenheath is used exclusively by the United States Air Force (USAF) and is sending fighter jets to the Iran war.

“Over 60 per cent of the British population oppose the deployment of these US nuclear weapons in Britain. With the reckless leadership of Donald Trump, they put us on the frontline of his devastating wars” says CND General Secretary Sophie Bolt. “Both RAF Lakenheath and nearby RAF Mildenhall have been heavily involved in the ongoing illegal attacks of Iran. F-35 fighter-bombers have been transiting through Lakenheath to US bases in Jordan since January, while refuelling aircraft at Mildenhall have been supporting long-range bombers operating from RAF Fairford in Gloucester during their bombing missions over Iran. It is vital that we keep the pressure up on Keir Starmer to finally kick out Trump’s [sic] from Britain. It’s time to sever these sordid military ties with the US and shut down these bases for good!”

The peace protestors used heavy-duty locks to attach themselves to a car, a large multi-coloured peace symbol and each other, completely blocking the main gates of the air-base. A second gate was also shut down by peace campaigners for four hours.

This non-violent direct action follows a week-long International Peace Camp at the base that ended on Monday 6th April. The RAF bases at Lakenheath and nearby Mildenhall have also supported Israel’s genocide in Gaza and nuclear bombs returned to Lakenheath last summer.

One of the lock-on protesters, Rajan Naidu from Birmingham, said: “Through being on British sovereign territory this base is used by the US to pursue an illegal war of aggression, raining death and misery on the people of Iran. The base is also being used to aid and abet Israeli war crimes and genocide against the Palestinian people. Britain, by allowing these crimes against humanity is complicit in them, and therefore culpable for them.”

Although the USAF neither confirmed nor denied the presence of nukes at RAF Lakenheath it was widely believed that nuclear weapons were based there during the Cold War. They were said to have been withdrawn in the early 2000s. But the nuclear storage facilities have now been upgraded amid reports last year that American nuclear weapons are, once again, being stationed at the air-base.

Lakenheath is officially an RAF base but it is staffed almost exclusively by USAF personnel. There are 5,000 active duty personnel and 2,000 American and British civilians working at the base. The USA pays operational costs but does not pay any rent for the base. As well as the base, the site is an ‘American’ small town with its own shops, a golf course and football ground.