Anti-nuclear protester to lead parade

Published on Friday 2 May 2008 10:27

BRITAIN'S leading anti-nuclear protester is set to head this year's Edinburgh May Day parade tomorrow.

Pat Arrowsmith has been invited to Edinburgh to mark the 50th anniversary of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.

She has been an active protester since the 1950s, when she led the first march to an atomic weapons factory in Aldermaston.

Ms Arrowsmith will speak at the May Day rally in Princes Street Gardens. The rally will also feature Colombian trade union leader Aida Avella, who was elected into parliament in the 1990s.

All those elected alongside her have since been assassinated and she currently lives in exile in Switzerland.

Colin Fox, Edinburgh May Day committee leader, said Ms Arrowsmith's record over the past 50 years "is second to none in opposing Britain's nuclear missiles".

Other guests include author Seamus Milne, a French trade union leader, a Palestinian representative and Catriona Grant from Save Our Old Town.

The march will assemble on Market street at 11.30am.