Protest at Y-12

Photo:  About 200 people gather for a peace vigil outside the Y-12 National Security Complex on Sunday afternoon. Organizers have planned a small rally outside Y-12 and a commissioning, or blessing today. (Scott Fraker, Oakridger.com)

Bottom two photos are by Tom Palumbo’s Facebook page.  He was one of the people arrested on July 5, 2010.

Late in the evening of July 4^th, the people attending the Nuclear Resistance weekend went to Y-12 for a vigil.  They were still busy making plans for the actions the following day when I left the conference (the poison ivy was driving me crazy, and I could not stand out there in the heat).  But here are some updates:

Protesters mark 30 years of nuclear resistance – July 4, 2010

Roughly 200 people turned out at the Y-12 National Security Complex on Sunday as part of a three-day ceremony marking 30 years of nuclear resistance, an organizer said.

The Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance, which organizes regular anti-nuclear weapons events, including those outside Y-12, was asked to join the celebration by Nuclear Resister in Arizona and Nukewatch in Wisconsin, and the three groups collaborated in setting up the ceremony, OREPA member Mary Dennis Lentsch said.

Nuclear weapons protested - 37 arrested at Y-12 while marking 30th anniversary of initial 'Plowshares' action – July 5, 2010

Some of the self-proclaimed nuclear resisters briefly blocked an entrance to Y-12, and others crawled under or through a barbed-wire fence to reach an area that's posted as off-limits to visitors. All told, 37 protesters were arrested on state or federal charges and sent to local jails. A counter-protester also was arrested for disorderly conduct after he reportedly refused to follow police orders.


Peace activists, anti-nukes and those dedicated to disarmament gathered in East Tennessee over the weekend to commemorate the 30th anniversary of several events, including the initial "Plowshares" action that took place Sept. 9, 1980. On that day, brothers Daniel and Philip Berrigan and six others entered a General Electric nuclear missile facility at King of Prussia, Pa., and reportedly damaged the nose cone of a warhead and poured blood on weapons documents at the plant. Since then, there have been more than 70 similar or symbolic Plowshares actions at U.S. nuclear facilities.


……..  The biggest surprise was the number of protesters willing to face stiff federal charges for trespassing on Y-12 property, he said. The 14 protesters arrested on federal trespassing charges were booked at the Blount County Jail, while those facing state charges for blocking a roadway were processed in Clinton at the Anderson County Jail.

Asheville woman among more than 30 protesters arrested at Oak Ridge Y-12 plant

Judith Hallock, a nurse and co-founder of the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance, is one of 23 people beinig held at the Anderson County detention center facing state charges for blocking a roadway into the plant.  Another 14 protesters are being held in the Blount County jail on federal charges for crossing a fence into the Y-12 property.  The protesters were commemorating the 30th anniversary of the initial "Plowshares" anti-nuclear weapons protest that took place in 1980.


I plan on being there next time they demonstrate.