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PRESS RELEASE
CND supports activists' challenge to SOCPA
For immediate release: 2 June 2006
The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament today expressed its support for
activists Helen John and Sylvia Boyce, who have been arrested again in
their ongoing attempt to challenge the trespass laws under the Serious
Organised Crime and Police Act (SOCPA) at the US Menwith Hill spy base
in North Yorkshire. Ms John, 68, and Ms Boyce, 62, were first arrested
on 1st April, the same day that the new SOCPA law went into effect at
Menwith Hill. In the two months since their original arrest, Attorney
General Lord Goldsmith and the Crown Prosecution Service have failed to
bring charges against the two grandmothers.
Kate Hudson, Chair of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, said, “It
seems that the government created this legislation without fully thinking
through its practical applicability. It is not acceptable in a free and
democratic country to suppress non-violent protest by telling people to
stay away from certain places. Perhaps the government realises this and
is too ashamed to bring charges against Helen and Sylvia.”
After her most recent arrest, Helen John said, “I want this case
to be heard in a court of law, but that is probably the last place the
government wants it to go. The SOCPA criminal trespass law does not protect
the people of Britain against terrorism – it is exclusively designed
to protect US military fighting capability in the UK. I would like to
see more people join us in challenging these laws so that the government
is forced to overturn this oppressive and unnecessary legislation.”
end
Notes to Editor:
1. For further information and interviews please contact Rick Wayman,
CND's Press & Communications Officer, on 0207 7002350 or 07968 420859
2. The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) is one of Europe’s
biggest single-issue peace campaigns, with over 32,000 members in the
UK. CND campaigns for the abolition of all nuclear weapons everywhere.
www.cnduk.org
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