Dozens Arrested During Nuclear Weapons Protest At Lawrence Livermore Laboratory

LIVERMORE (CBS/AP) — About 50 Bay Area activists were peacefully arrested as they gathered at a Livermore laboratory to protest nuclear weapons on the 70th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima.

The Oakland Tribune reports that hundreds of activists from about 40 different Bay Area organizations attended the protest Thursday on Lawrence Livermore Laboratory. Authorities arrested dozens after they refused to disperse.

Organizers were there to pay respect to Hiroshima victims and to bring awareness to the money spent on nuclear weapons research at the lab. Lead organizer of Tri-Valley Cares, Marylia Kelley, says $1 billion of the lab's funding for fiscal year 2016 will go toward modernizing weapons.

A spokesman for the lab said the facility doesn't house nuclear weapons and ceased its nuclear testing in 1992.

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