Rally held in London against Trident defense system
Protesters have gathered in London to voice their anger of the UK's nuclear weapons system Trident.
Thousands of demonstrators gathered outside the UK Ministry of Defense on Saturday to protest the renovation of the Britain’s sea-based Trident nuclear defense system.
As part of the demonstration people encircled the Ministry of Defense building in central London with a pink scarf.
Some protesters chanted, “Wrap up Trident, ban the bomb now!" and other held placards reading, "Books Not Bombs" and "Climate Not Trident."
The demonstration followed a parliamentary vote on a £100 billion ($150 billion) upgrade for the system.
“They should know that scrapping Trident is a vote winner, not a vote loser," said the general secretary of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, Kate Hudson.
The bill was endorsed by 364 members and only 37 MPs voted to scrap the program while over 250 MPs refrained from voting.
"Too many MPs have refused to move on from the Cold War and are even prepared to sacrifice the NHS to maintain a nuclear arsenal," Hudson added.
The submarine-based Trident system, designed in the 1980s and in service since the mid 1990s, is conclusive of four Vanguard-class submarines armed with Trident II D-5 ballistic missiles with the purpose of countering nuclear threats.
"Millions of people around the country oppose this £100 billion monstrosity, and it's not hard to see why when military figures say Trident's useless, and when we look at just how transformative that money could be if spent on the NHS, job creation, renewable energy, housing and education,” said Hudson.
Stuck in the Cold War
UK-based political analyst Rodney Shakespeare told Press TV that proponents of Trident renewal are still stuck with cold war era thinking.
“The British UK d
eterrent, and the military philosophy behind it, is the result of the cold war versus communism in which there were 2 systems, both of them wrong, and they were opposed to each other and you got what was called the MAD policy, which is M-A-D, Mutually Assured Destruction.
"But since the fall of communism in 1999 and 1990, a new world has actually been coming to being, although the west and America still have a mindset, set in the past,” Shakespeare said.
SRK/NN/AS
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