Thursday January 01 1970
Civilians Weapons Inspection and Bike Ride
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event notice 
Sunday June 13, 2004 12:27
by Miriam - Belfast Lisburn Ethical Investment Campaign (BLEIC)
turley_miriam at hotmail dot com
19th June, from Belfast to Drumaness
We're cycling the 20 miles to Drumaness to voice our disgust at the presence of the Thales weapons storage and testing facility. Part of an ongoing campaign by BLEIC against the Belfast-based weapons manufacturer. Also check out FEIC, who are doing a stellar job making raytheon feel uncomfortable in Derry.
Fancy Saving the World from the Forces of Evil and getting a bit of exercise at the same time?
Then join us on a bike ride to the Thales Air Defence weapons storage facility near Drumaness on Saturday the 19th of June. We’ll be making the 40 mile round trip starting at 10:15am, meeting up at the Thales Facility at 12:15 pm with local concerned citizens and councillors from the Ballinahinch/Downpatrick area, to make our protest at the production and export of arms from Northern Ireland to war torn countries around the world, and arriving back in Belfast around 4:30pm.
~We want to tell Thales, and other arms companies in Northern Ireland that we don’t accept their patronage, and would rather eat our bicycles than welcome their business here.
~We want to tell the UK government to stop spending excruciating amounts of tax-payers' money on subsidising the industry, and start paying for things we want, like sustainable energy sources and a decent public transport system.
~And we want to tell everyone else in NI to start demanding a place to live that we can be proud of, rather than one that is partly funded on other people’s misery.
We’ll meet at 10:15 at the main entrance to Ormeau Park by the Ormeau Bridge. Bring costumes, noise makers, FOOD, suncream, and a rain mac. There may be transport for some people’s bikes if you only want to go one way and make your way back on public transport.
Contact Mark on (0044) (0)7715110517 for more details or directions.
Comments (1 of 1)
Jump To Comment: 1In Belfast, Thales Air Defence, formerly Shorts Missiles Systems has a well established missile production facility. It has received tens of thousands of pounds in subsidies over the years from the public purse. A recent Invest NI document listed its manufacture programs as including the Seacat, Blowpipe, Javelin, Starstreak and Hellfire missiles.
The Starstreak missile has been exported to South Africa despite the massive development need in that country. The UK Department for International Development can refuse a licence on the basis of the impact of a given deal on development, but cannot consider the cumulative impact of many deals. Its role in the licensing process is rendered almost meaningless by this restriction.
The Hellfire missile is manufactured by Thales in Belfast under licence from the US giant Lockheed Martin. Thales have considerable expertise in this manufacture having produced this missile since the late nineties.
In their recent report 'Lock, Stock and Barrel' Amnesty, Oxfam and the International Action Network on Small Arms highlighted how 'new, relaxed licensing for arms components, rather than for whole systems is creating a new loophole within the British arms control system. This is increasing the likelihood that UK-supplied defence equipment will be misused and that exports will be able to evade tough licensing criteria'.
Today the Belfast and Lisburn Ethical Investment Campaign sought to bring public attention to the fact that the Hellfire missile is tested at the Thales site near Ballynahinch, County Down. The site was picnic-picketted with local residents speaking out on the need for transparency on the activities of the arms manufacturer. The Hellfire missile is regularly used by the Israeli Defence Forces in so-called 'targeted killings'. Within the last few months British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw Straw issued a strongly-worded condemnation of the "unlawful killing" by Israeli forces. Straw described the targeted assassination as "unacceptable and unjustified".
A concern of the BLEIC group is that components of these missiles being used by the IDF are being manufactured and tested in Belfast and Ballynahinch.
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