Hundreds of protesters, among them members of the Sydney Anti-AUKUS Coalition, protested en masse in Sydney Town Hall Square on Saturday over plans by the Australian government involving nuclear-powered submarines under AUKUS. According to this group, the Australian opposition is keen on promoting nuclear power reactors. Xinhua news agency has reported the event.
Peter Murphy, convener of the Sydney Anti-AUKUS Coalition, addressed the crowd, telling them that the AUKUS Pact was a secretive deal between the United States, Britain, and Australia to provide Australia with nuclear-powered attack submarines. In addition, it had grandiose plans to develop hypersonic missiles, conduct cyber warfare, and enhance quantum computing and artificial intelligence weapons.
Their statement said the protest rally was in memory of all the victims of the atomic bombings over Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, and of all victims of preparations for nuclear warfare in general.
The protesters then marched to Defence Plaza Sydney carrying banners with their demands: "Australia says No to AUKUS, No to NATO, No to War", "Down with the AUKUS Nuclear Submarine Deal", "Scrap AUKUS Now", and "No to Nuclear Subs".
Dennis Doherty, coordinator of the Sydney Anti-AUKUS Coalition, said the nuclear industry, nuclear weapons and nuclear submarines are all bad for Australia. "We want to live in friendship with all people in our region. And that's why it's a bad move to have nuclear-powered submarines, because it's a threatening move which will increase tension in our region when we need to decrease tension," he said.
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