DUTCH DISARMAMENT ACTION:

 On December 8, 1988 the first anniversary of the INF Treaty, 12 Dutch peace activists, calling themselves "INF Ploughshares," cut through fences to enter the Woensdrecht Airbase and made their way to cruise missile bunkers where they carried out the first disarmament action in Holland. In their action statement they declared: "The INF Treaty was signed to eliminate the ground launched cruise and Pershing missiles from Europe. But the amount of air and sea launched missiles for European battlefield is increasing enormously and NATO plans are ready to modernize nuclear forces in Europe. The bunkers of cruise missiles won’t be destroyed but given a new military destination. We oppose these new steps in the arms race¼ We have started demolishing the Cruise missile bunkers¼ by beating the bunker steel into ploughshares with sledgehammers. We demand that the money destined for new arms be spent instead on producing food for the hungry, detoxifying toxic waste dumps and cleaning polluted water." They were subsequently apprehended and most were released by Dutch authorities after being held for thirty hours. Kees Koning was released after 8 days.