PEACE WALK PROTEST AT FACTORY

This article appears in today's Leicester Mercury:

"Peace walk" protest at factory

Peace campaigners staged a demonstration yesterday outside a factory which makes parts for unmanned military drones.

The protest, by people on a 90-mile "peace walk", took place outside the Thales factory, in Scudamore Road, Braunstone Frith, Leicester.

Participant Penny Walker, of Leicester CND, said: "The walk is to mark the Drones Week of Action, to campaign against the use of unmanned aircraft in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

"The Leicester Thales factory makes electronics for the Watchkeeper drone, and that is why we held a demonstration outside."

The walkers, who come from around the country, were met by the Red Leicester Choir outside the factory yesterday afternoon.

They were due to set off again this morning from the Gandhi statue, in Belgrave Road, Leicester.

The 90-mile walk started near Lichfield, in Staffordshire, on Saturday, and passed through Hinckley on the way to Leicester yesterday.

It will continue towards RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire, where the march will finish on Saturday.

Another participant, Maya Evans, of Hastings, said: "During a visit to Afghanistan last December, I met a 19-year-old whose brother-in-law – a trainee police officer with a wife and one-year-old son – was killed in a drone strike."

She said the idea of the march was to get people talking about drones in the places which the walkers pass through.

Ms Evans added: "We are walking in solidarity with those killed or harmed by drones."The walk coincided with a 20,000-strong protest in Pakistan, led by former cricket international and politician Imran Khan.

Drones are unmanned aircraft equipped with weapons and cameras.No-one from Thales was available for comment yesterday.