Portsmouth Quakers at their local anti-Trident event. Photo: Liz Cordiner.
Pink scarf back to ‘Wrap Up Trident!’
Quakers participated in an anti-Trident protest on 24 January
The pink scarf knitted by Quakers and other peace campaigners last year made its final appearance on 24 January, as part of the ‘Wrap Up Trident!’ campaign.
Quakers from across the country gathered in central London last Saturday to wrap the scarf around the Ministry of Defence. They were among some 10,000 people who marched down Whitehall to the Houses of Parliament to protest against the renewal of the Trident programme.
Friends also attended a ‘Prayer and Protest’ event at St Martin-in-the-Fields, Trafalgar Square. This was due to be held in the Dick Sheppard Chapel, but had to be moved to the main church in order to fit everyone in, Quaker Peace & Social Witness interim peace and disarmament programme manager Tim Wallis told the Friend.
A number of statements were read out on the steps of the church. Two young Friends read out the open letter sent to foreign secretary Philip Hammond by recording clerk Paul Parker in December.
The letter was written on behalf of Britain Yearly Meeting and began: ‘Quakers in Britain condemn unreservedly the UK’s possession of nuclear weapons and the policy of nuclear deterrence which relies on the threat to use them…’
Portsmouth Friends were among those who staged a local anti-Trident event to coincide with the London protest. Their scarf had previously been carried around Hilsea and Portsea. It also formed part of the nine miles of knitting that stretched from Aldermaston to Burghfield last August. Other sections of the scarf have already been made into blankets for distribution in Sri Lanka. The sections of scarf used in the London protest are to be turned into blankets for Syrian refugees.
