OAK RIDGE, Tenn. — A group gathered in East Tennessee on Friday to demonstrate against the use and manufacture of nuclear weapons around the world.
The Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance said that it would be a long journey to prohibit nuclear weapons, but also said that the demonstration could be a starting point.
"As Quakers, we are reminded of other 'impossible goals' like the abolition of slavery and women's suffrage that were eventually achieved by enough people imagining a better world and tirelessly pursuing it over years and decades," said some of the participants in a statement.
They gathered at the University of Tennessee to display banners and hung up a notice that nuclear weapons were illegal under national law. The notice included a yellow 'x' as well as a poster-size version of the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
At 1 p.m. on Friday, they also gathered on Scarboro Road across from the Y-12 building and the New Hope Visitor's Center. There, they read the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and hung a banner.
"As of January 22, 2021, nuclear weapons are illegal," the banner said.
They also put up 122 yellow 'x's across the fence line at the building, which were meant to represent each country that voted to approve the treaty.
The international treaty includes several prohibitions that prevent countries from participating in nuclear weapon activities such as testing, developing, stockpiling or threatening their use. It entered into force on Jan. 22, after 85 countries signed onto it.
Instead of signing the treaty, the U.S. and some other major nations pledged they would stay committed to the non-proliferation treaty, according to the Nuclear Threat Institute.
Masks were required at the demonstration and participants followed social distancing guidelines.
