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Anti-war protest planned for RIAT
From the Swindon Advertiser, first published Thursday 3rd Jul 2003.
ANTI-WAR activists are planning peaceful protests during this year's Royal International Air Tattoo.
The protests, which are being organised by a group called Fairford Peace Watch are likely to take the form of a peace camp outside RAF Fairford, similar to those seen outside the base during the war on Iraq.
Kate Holcombe, a Fair-ford Peace Camp veteran, is helping to lead the peace watch at the Air Tattoo on July 19 and 20.
She said: "There will be protests during the days of the Royal International Air Tattoo but we are unsure about how many people will be taking part.
"We have already created a leaflet that will go alongside RIAT posters to send the message and make people realise that these are not just pretty planes they are going to see at the show but that these are the machines designed to blow the limbs off people.
"The media has been good at pointing out that the protest during the Iraq war has cost Gloucestershire Police and taxpayers lots of money but they don't point out the money spent on cluster bombs and other weapons used in the war on Iraq."
The leaflets, which are on the Fairford Peace Watch website, describe the show as the Rogues International War Tattoo, and celebrations of the centenary of flight have been changed into 100 Years of Fright.
RAF Fairford attracted the attention of protesters after 16 B-52 bombers were stationed at the Gloucestershire base to carry out attacks on targets in Iraq. The aircraft, based in the United States, left Fairford in May, and protesters have kept watch on the base ever since.
Another peace protest is planned for tomorrow, the American day of Independence.
Called the Independence Day and Gatecrashers Stroll, the protest will come in the form of a procession from the village to the main gate of the base.
Andy Newman, chairman of the Swindon Stop the War coalition, said: "The anti-war movement has not gone away and this event is just one of several around the country outside US military bases to mark July 4. The Iraqis must be allowed to run their own country.
"More than 60 US and UK soldiers have been killed in Iraq since George Bush declared the war over, and it looks like the occupying forces have no strategy for putting the country back together again.
"We call on the government to bring the British troops home before they get sucked into a prolonged guerrilla war."
Peace camps were set up in fields near the American base in mid-February.
Prior to the arrival of the bombers for the war on Iraq, the protesters moved to a site next to the perimeter fence of the base where they remained until after the war was over.
Organisers of the Royal International Air Tattoo declined to comment.
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