Editing Nevada Test Site (section)

==Protests and demonstrations==
{{See also|Anti-nuclear protests in the United States}}
[[File:Anti-nuclear protest at the NTS 3.jpg|thumb|upright|Members of [[Nevada Desert Experience|Desert Lenten Experience]] hold a prayer vigil during the Easter period of 1982 at the entrance to the site.]]
In 1983, four Greenpeace activists made the first incursion into the site of an active test.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-missoulian-greenpeace-protestors-wal/159666257/| title=Greenpeace protestors walk into testing area |publisher=[[Missoulian]] |location=Missoula, MT |page=8 |date=April 21, 1983|access-date=November 24, 2024}}</ref> Two American men, one from West Germany and one from the United Kingdom hiked 30 miles on foot to hide in the desert near ground zero at Yucca Flats.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1983/04/18/Four-antinukers-elude-choppers/6874419490000/ | title=Four Anti-Nukers Elude Choppers |via= UPI Archives }}</ref> The four evaded capture for a week with the stated objective of delaying the test, and were charged with trespassing. <ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1983/04/20/Four-anti-nuclear-protesters-Wednesday-quit-their-five-day-mountain-roost/7403419662800/ |title=Four anti-nuclear protesters Wednesday quit their five-day mountain roost |date=April 20, 1983 |newspaper=[[United Press International]] |access-date=November 22, 2024 }}</ref>

From 1986 through 1994, two years after the United States ended nuclear weapons testing, 536 demonstrations were held at the site involving 37,488 participants and 15,740 arrests, according to government records.<ref name="elynews.com" />

In 1986, a coalition of organizations including Greenpeace sent protestors into Frenchman's Flat.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1986/04/07/Greenpeace-invades-Nevada-Test-Site/1497513234000/ | title=Greenpeace 'invades' Nevada Test Site |via= UPI Archives }}</ref>

From 1986 through 1994, two years after the United States ended nuclear weapons testing, 536 demonstrations were held at the site involving 37,488 participants and 15,740 arrests, according to government records.<ref name="elynews.com"/>

On February 5, 1987, more than 400 people were arrested trying to enter the site after nearly 2,000 demonstrators held a rally to protest nuclear weapons testing. Those arrested included the astronomer [[Carl Sagan]] and the actors [[Kris Kristofferson]], [[Martin Sheen]], and [[Robert Blake (actor)|Robert Blake]]. Five Democratic members of Congress attended the rally: [[Thomas J. Downey]], [[Mike Lowry]], [[Jim Bates (politician)|Jim Bates]], [[Leon E. Panetta]], and [[Barbara Boxer]].<ref name="query.nytimes.com">Robert Lindsey. [https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE5DE113EF935A35751C0A961948260 438 Protesters are Arrested at Nevada Nuclear Test Site] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200511150359/https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE5DE113EF935A35751C0A961948260 |date=May 11, 2020 }} ''New York Times'', February 6, 1987.</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=943&dat=19870206&id=UrUOAAAAIBAJ&sjid=74IDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5306,3878706 |title=Biggest Demonstration Yet at Test Site |access-date=December 20, 2015 |archive-date=May 10, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160510103936/https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=943&dat=19870206&id=UrUOAAAAIBAJ&sjid=74IDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5306,3878706 |url-status=live }}</ref>

American Peace Test (APT) and Nevada Desert Experience (NDE) held most of these.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=vYW67obBjSEC&pg=PA165 Political protest and cultural revolution By Barbara Epstein] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240506034201/https://books.google.com/books?id=vYW67obBjSEC&pg=PA165#v=onepage&q&f=false |date=May 6, 2024 }} p. 165.</ref> In March 1988, APT held an event where more than 8,000 people attended a ten-day action to "Reclaim the Test Site", where nearly 3,000 people were arrested, including more than 1,200 in one day. This set a record for most civil disobedience arrests in a single protest.

On October 12, 1992, an 11-day protest took place at the Test Site. At the invitation of the Western Shoshone Tribe and [[Corbin Harney]], an anti-nuclear activist and spiritual leader for the [[Western Shoshone|Newe]] people, over 2,000 protesters from 12 different countries gathered for "Healing Global Wounds". In their media work, protesters and organizers demanded an end to nuclear weapons testing and return of the test site to the Western Shoshone people. Camped in the desert, participants took part in anti-racism and peaceful civil disobedience trainings. They planned actions and demonstrations, eventually using culverts and other means to enter the Test Site where 530 were arrested by [[Wackenhut]] Security forces on charges of trespassing. Full-scale nuclear weapons testing did not resume.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1992/10/12/At-least-530-people-demonstrating-at-a-Nevada-nuclear/9295718862400/ | title=At least 530 people demonstrating at a Nevada nuclear... |via= UPI Archives }}</ref>
 
After 1994, Shundahai Network in cooperation with [[Nevada Desert Experience]] and [[Corbin Harney]] continued the protests of the work at the site and staged efforts to stop a repository for highly [[radioactive waste]] adjacent to the test site at nearby [[Yucca Mountain]].