adminIn what is being called the UK’s biggest anti-drone protest to date, over 400 demonstrators took part in a march and rally outside of the UK’s new drone headquarters at the Royal Air Force (RAF) Station Waddington in Lincolnshire, three hours north of London.
According to a local news outlet, demonstrators carried banners and drums and marched chanting: “David Cameron, CIA, how many kids have you killed today?” and “War’s not a video game, every Afghan has a name.”
A protester identified as Ms. John told the crowd outside the compound, “This base is a smokescreen for the work that’s going on in killing children across the world.”
Saturday’s rally and march was organised by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), the Drone Campaign Network, Stop the War Coalition and War on Want.
According to The Guardian, the British Ministry of Defense began carrying out missile-carrying Reaper aircraft missions from the newly built headquarters earlier this week. Previously, the RAF had been piloting the unmanned aircraft in attacks against Afghanistan from the Creech airforce base in Nevada.
Ahead of the protest, War on Want senior campaigns officer for militarism and security, Rafeef Ziadah said in a statement, “Drones, controlled far away from conflict zones, ease politicians’ decisions to launch military strikes and order extra-judicial assassinations, without democratic oversight or accountability to the public.
“Now is the time to ban killer drones — before it is too late.
“It’s time to end this remote killing before even more innocent civilians are slaughtered – they are the main victims in this barbaric form of high-tech killing,” added Kate Hudson, general secretary for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.
“I think there’s something quite sinister about the idea that military personnel in Lincolnshire can press a button and take out and kill unnamed targets in Afghanistan and Pakistan or wherever,” said Chris Nineham, vice-chair of the Stop the War Coalition. — commondreams.org
Online Reporter