AS THE day of the Nato summit drew near, the Household Cavalry, air force, police and special branch descended on Newport It was to be a fun family day, with displays of Nato’s murderous weapons and machinery of death, a food fair with a Nato theme, and Red Devils fly by. But Côr Cochion, CND Cymru, Palestine Solidarity and the Stop Nato/No NatoNewport campaigns were there, calling for the money spent on endless wars to be invested instead in our health service, schools, and jobs.

We learned that the Welsh government and Newport council were preparing to fete the warmongers with a ceremonial presentation of a Nato flag to the city, ironically on the very spot where the army had shot the Newport Chartists in 1839. The platform for the dignitaries in Westgate Street was readied; and so we took our place on it.

With the top brass and town worthies gathering around, I took over the podium, and declared that we were here to protest against the Nato war machine.

The military band passed by, and we followed them across to the Riverfront where the dignitaries were having a reception. There we were met by the grotesque sight of children being lifted on to army tanks and looking through machine gun sights.

Across the main road, an enormous 100 foot long banner covered the building site hoardings, with slogans: “NATO has thousands of nuclear weapons that must never be used..”

And that was the message that got through loud and clear today.

Ray Davies, Vice-chair CND Cymru