(30/07/2006)

European Youth biketour for a Nuclear Free Europe

Sample Press Release

European Youth biketour for a Nuclear Free Europe

Nuclear free Youth bike together for European peace action in

Belgium July 31st till August 10th 2006

A group of 4 young people (NAMES AND AGE OF PARTICIPANTS) from (YOUR COUNTRY AND ORGANIZATION) are participating in a European

Youth exchange project in Belgium, to mark the 61st anniversary of

Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Between 50 and 60 young people from 15

European countries will start a biketour in Ypres on August 2nd 2006 at

9 am at Ypres City Hall. They are participating in a European Youth

exchange project in Belgium, to mark the 61st anniversary of Hiroshima

and Nagasaki and demand a worldwide ban on nuclear weapons. They

will end the project on August 9th at 10 am with a non-violent blockade

of the main entrance of the NATO base of Kleine Brogel. The airforce

base is suspected to host 20 US nuclear bombs with a potential lethal

power of almost 200 times the Hiroshima bomb which killed 140.000

people by the end of 1945.

The non-violent blockade receives increasing support from now well

over 60 Belgian mayors and Members of Parliament amongst who

previous prime-minister Jean-Luc Dehaene and President of the Belgian

Senate Anne-Marie Lizin. Also the Mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

call people to participate in the blockade as we can not ask Iran and

North-Korea to refrain to get the nuclear deterrent while ourselves

relying on it.

From July 31st till August 10th 2006 the Flemish branch of Friends of the

Earth International organises a European Youth exchange project to

mark the 61st anniversary of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Sixty youth from

15 European countries will meet during 10 days to discuss and act together for a worldwide ban of nuclear weapons . Participants from

Belgium, Germany, Finland, France, Greece, UK, Italy, Luxembourg,

Netherlands, Norway, Austria, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain en Sweden will

bike together in an youth peace action.

The programme starts with a welcoming in the historic town of Ypres –

the first use of chemical weapons in 1915- and a visit to the Peace

museum and a workshop on the "Mayors for Peace" campaign presided

by the Mayor of Hiroshima demanding a ban on all nuclear weapons by

2020. During the entire project there will regular contact and reference

with the Belgian mayors who participate actively in this campaign.

The U.S. deploys an estimated of 480 tactical nuclear weapons on NATO

bases in six European countries, a nuclear force larger than the entire

Chinese nuclear stockpile. Furthermore the U.S. is the only nuclear

weapon state to deploy nuclear weapons outside of its own territory.

The NATO base at Kleine Brogel has a capacity to store up to 20 US B61

nuclear bombs. According to a recent Greenpeace International survey

most people in Britain, Germany, Italy, Netherlands and Turkey are not

aware of the secret deployments of U.S. bombs on their territory. Only

in Belgium a majority became aware of the deployments (1).

In 1945 140,000 people died in Hiroshima following the use of a single

atomic bomb. SIPRI (Stockholm International Peace Research Institute)

estimates there are 13,470 operational nuclear warheads in the world.

If one includes the number of inactive warheads, the total global

inventory is some 27,600 warheads.

On 13th July, the Belgian House of Representatives approved a

resolution asking for the withdrawal of U.S. nuclear weapons from

Europe. This follows a similar resolution on April 21st in the Belgian

Senate. This is the first time that a parliamentary assembly from a

NATO member state has dared to ask for the withdrawal of U.S nuclear

weapons from its territory withstanding U.S. pressure.

A spokesperson of For Mother Earth stated: “We have known for a long

time that the majority of people want nuclear disarmament. Now we are

seeing a clear support for this demand from our elected

representatives- in city councils, and in the Senate and the House of

representatives. It is now up to the government to remove these

weapons, and fulfil the clear wish of the people. Our Foreign Affairs

Minister Karel De Gucht has to follow up democratic decisions.”

For Mother Earth has been organising peace walks since 1991. Eleven

For Mother Earth walks have covered over 12.000 km in their campaign

for a nuclear test ban and the abolition of nuclear weapons.

For Mother Earth was previously one of the main organisers of the

Bomspotting campaign, where thousands of citizens were arrested in

attempt to inspect the U.S. nuclear weapons base or NATO

headquarters.

Contact: (COUNTRY CONTACT)

More information and registrations: http://www.motherearth.org

Note:

Greenpeace Survey June 2006: Survey Results in 6 European Countries

http://www.greenpeace.org/international/press/reports/nuclear-weapons-ineurope-

survey