A Giant Peace Sign
On the 16th July 2020 at 12.15pm the Mirror Pool in front of Bradford Town Hall was the site of a unique socially distant demonstration – a giant human peace symbol formed by 75 local campaigners to mark the 75th anniversary of the first atomic explosion. The demonstration remembered all lives lost as a result of the testing and usage of nuclear weapons and called on Bradford Council to formally support the UN Treaty to ban all nuclear weapons across the globe.
The first atomic explosion took place on the 16th of July 1945 as part a test by the United States in New Mexico. Three weeks after this test, nuclear weapons were used on humans for the first time when they were dropped on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan.
This shows how groups have adapted their campaigning during the pandemic to ensure it is safe for people to join and can still be an effective way of bringing peace issues to the attention of the wider public.
You can read more here; Yorkshire CND website
Watch this video made by Stephen and Jamie Garnett that captures the event with music by Helen Yeomans performed by Bradford Voices and the still photography by Neil Terry.
Photography Credit: Neil Terry
With thanks to Yorkshire CND