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FRIDAY, OCTOBER 3, 1969

PUBLIC OPINION DEMANDS:

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WHERE THE ACTION WAS. The U.S. consulate at Georgia and Burrard was a busy place Monday as
delegations and demonstrations condemned Thursdays Amchitka Island nuclear blast. These photos taken

onday show pickets from the Society for Pollution and Environmental Control and Voice of Women. Shown
Speaking to demonstrators is Rev. Jack A. Kent of the North Shore Unitarian Church. —G. Legebokoff photo

Open shopping hours hit |

See story on page 2

VOL. 30, NO. 40

NO MORE TESTS

Tribune

eS"

10¢

Protests condemn
Aleutian tests

By MAURICE RUSH

The tidal wave of protest against the U.S. test on
Amchitka Island should leave no doubt in Washington,
D.C. that public opinion demands an end to any more
testing of nuclear weapons in the quake-prone Aleutian

Islands.

Almost as one_ voice,
governments, church leaders,
students, teachers, women’s
groups, trade unions, political
leaders and many others con-
demned the test this week and
demanded it be called off.

As the PT went to press there
was no indication whether Presi-
dent Nixon would heed the world-
wide protest at the last moment
and stop the highly dangerous
Aleutian test. Indications were

that U.S. officials were
determined to go ahead with
Thursday’s blast.

The men in the U.S., from
President Nixon down,
taken the attitude that ‘‘if its in
the interests of U.S. national
defence to hell with the rest of
the world.”

The Amchitka test Thursday
is the first of a series. It is of 1.2
megaton strength which is equal
to 1.2 million tons of TNT. One of
the tests planned in the series is
to be the largest ever touched off
underground — 5.5 megatons. A
nuclear blast of such magnitude
is 300 times more powerful than
the bomb dropped on Hiro-
shima. The affects of such a test
on the Aleutian fault, wildlife
and fisheries in the area are
unpredictable.

U.S. military scientists are
using the North Pacific and its
people as guinea pigs to test the
power and affect of new weapons
-of mass destruction to add te
their already terrifying arsenal
of nuclear weapons.

Public opinion everywhere,
and especially in B.C., has been
shocked by the arrogant attitude
of U.S. leaders, who persist in
continuing with the testing of
even more sophisticated
nuclear weapons when there are
already more than enough to
wipe out mankind many times

over.
‘HALT MADNESS’

Most Canadians will agree
with Alberni acting mayor
George McKnight, who in a

letter to President Nixon urging _

have —

the test be called off, said: ’
“Surely now it is time to call a
halt to this madness.” He urged
that steps be taken immediately.
to extend the nuclear test ban
treaty to include a ban on all
underground tests.

An indication of the pressure
in B.C. for a halt to the test was
seen when the Socred cabinet
decided this week to send an
official protest asking the test be
cancelled or postponed. This is
the first time in the history of the
Socred government that it
publicly came out against an
action planned or undertaken. by
the U.S. government.

The strong feeling of the public
was also voiced by a group of
Vancouver clergymen
representing Christ Church
Cathedral, Temple Shalom, Van-
couver Heights United Church
and the North Shore Unitarian
Church when they presented a
letter to the U.S. consul branding
the U.S. test as an example of
the kind of vandalism which is
leading to the destruction of
natural environment and may
ultimately make human life
impossible.

PROTESTS MOUNT

A demonstration outside the
consul’s office at Georgia and
Burrard, Monday, sponsored by
the Society for Pollution and
Environmental Control, was
joined by the public, swelling to
about 200 people carrying
placards denouncing the test.
Later about 100 students from a

- high school in Burnaby arrived

by bus to picket the U.S. consul.
They presented a petition
bearing 500 names of class-
mates and teachers urging the
tests be halted.

Another protest demonstra-
tion took place Wednesday
sponsored by the B.C. Peace
Council to protest what it called
the U.S. ‘callous disregard of
\uman consequences.’

University students from the

See TESTS, pg. 12