Activists in Britain, W. Germany Protest Against Nuclear Missiles

Peace groups in West Germany and Britain marched on U.S. military bases Friday to protest the deployment of nuclear missiles, beginning the annual Easter weekend peace demonstrations.

In Frankfurt, a statement from the headquarters of “Easter March ‘85” said marches and demonstrations were being held in more than 200 cities and towns.

West German Justice Minister Hans Engelhard called on the demonstrators to remain peaceful and within the law. No incidents or arrests were reported.

In Britain, hundreds of banner-waving people gathered at the Molesworth U.S. Air Force base to begin a four-day protest against the deployment of North Atlantic Treaty Organization nuclear-tipped cruise missiles there.

The coordinating group for the protest, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, said that three different groups were marching toward Molesworth from cities in southern England, and that 20,000 people were expected to ring the base on Easter Sunday.

Deployment is ‘Illegal’

Msgr. Bruce Kent, the peace group’s general secretary, said he approved of any attempt by protesters to break into the former World War II base, 50 miles north of London.

“What is going on in the base is illegal,” he said.

More than 1,000 police officers stood on watch around Molesworth. U.S. Air Force security teams were put on alert inside the perimeter of the 650-acre base, the Defense Ministry reported.

About 32 missiles have already been deployed in Britain at Greenham Common, a U.S. Air Force base west of London. Britain is scheduled to have 160 cruise missiles by 1989.

German demonstrators began protest vigils outside NATO military facilities in the states of Hesse and Rhineland-Pfalz.

West Germany is deploying 108 Pershing 2 missiles and 96 cruise missiles in accordance with a NATO program to counter comparable Soviet missiles aimed at Western Europe. Italy and Belgium are also receiving some of the medium-range missiles and others are scheduled to be deployed in the Netherlands..

In the northwestern German city of Muenster, more than 2,000 university scientists and members of a group called “Sportsmen for Peace” started a 30-mile march south to the Ruhr Valley city of Dortmund, organizers said.

In Dortmund, they said, about 5,000 people participated in a memorial service for resistance fighters and Soviet prisoners of war who were slain by the Nazis during World War II.