BRATTLEBORO — An antinuclear protest scheduled for Thursday in Brattleboro is expected to draw “in excess of 500 people,” according to police.
The SAGE Alliance, a recently formed association of individuals and groups working to close Vermont Yankee, will hold a rally and march and engage in nonviolent action the day after the expiration of Vermont Yankee's original 40-year federal license.
The event will begin with a “Shut It Down” rally on the Brattleboro Common from 11 a.m. to approximately 11:45 a.m. The rally will include live music, speakers, and instructions for those wishing to participate in the march and subsequent action at Entergy headquarters.
The rally will be followed by a 3.5-mile march northward on Putney Road from the Common to Entergy's corporate headquarters on Old Ferry Road.
Brattleboro Police said Wednesday that motorists should avoid Putney Road between the hours of 11:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. They also warned of traffic backups in the area north of the Route 5/9/91 roundabout from 11:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.
The march will be led by several dozen locally-organized “affinity groups” from Vermont, New Hampshire, and western Massachusetts that have been forming during recent months.
Organizers say the Brattleboro Police Department and trained “peacekeepers” will be on hand to maximize pedestrian and vehicular safety during the march. Once at Old Ferry Road, the marchers will gather across the street just beyond the Entergy offices.
From there, members of affinity groups who have participated in nonviolent training sessions and who are willing to risk arrest will cross the road onto Entergy property to deliver individual statements addressed to Entergy, calling on the company to immediately close Vermont Yankee and begin decommissioning the reactor and returning the site to a “green fields” condition.
According to Entergy spokesman Larry Smith, the Old Ferry Road headquarters will be empty on Thursday, with no employees scheduled to be on site.
Thursday's event is scheduled to end at 6 p.m., organizers say.
On Saturday, March 24, as part of what organizers are billing as a “National Day of Solidarity” with Vermont, a silent vigil will be held on Gov. Hunt Road in Vernon from 2 to 4 p.m.
For more information on both events, visit www.SAGEalliance.net.