Update 4

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Day 4 - Tuesday Oct 19th.

The day began with a single file procession through downtown Preston, carrying anti-nuke signs and lead by Yuko with Buddhist drumming. We stopped at a large monument of four workers being shot down by British military during the general strike of 1842. The killings happened while several thousand Preston workers were demonstrating against wage cuts and for the charter of democratic rights. Below the monument are the words with which Vera Baird, the barrister at the first Bread Not Bombs trial in June, closed the defence.

"Remember, Remember,people of proud Preston that progres towards justice and democracy has not been achieved without great sacrifice.Remember, remember, people of proud Preston to defend vigorously the rights given to you. Strive to enhance the rights of those who follow"

Here Peter Billington from the Lancaster Trades Council addressed us linking the struggle and sacrifices of the workers movement with the Ploughshares activists now on trial in Preston.

We then moved onto the peace garden established by the Preston City Council in response to the mass anti-nuclear weapons movement of the 1980's. The garden is surrounded by modern sculpture of peace doves and engraved peace poems of local school students. Here Sr. Yuko of Japan and the Nipponzon Myohoji Peace Pagoda (Milton Keynes) told the story of Saidako and the traditon of folding peace cranes. She left an oragami peace crane at the garden and we walked on to Preston Crown courts where we were addressed by Zelda. Zelda reflected on her 6 years working as a nurse in Nicaragua during the U.S. funded contra war and the daily grind of the war on the poor and its most vulnerable victims. We remembered the dead, the imprisoned, established a prayer vigil and a roadside vigil attracting many supportive "honks for peace" from passing motorists.

Inside the court the Judge ruled out any defense based on International Law. Annika gave powerful testimony backed by character witness from Fr. Arthur Fitzgerald of St. Michaels Church Liverpool. The court was adjourned at 3 p.m.