Menwith Hill: Campaigners protest near secretive US base in Yorkshire on July 4

July 5, 2026
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  Drones, Surveillance, UK
 

Published by The Yorkshire Post, 5 July 2026

Campaigners made their annual Independence Day protest near RAF Menwith Hill at the weekend.

The event was organised by the Menwith Hill Accountability Campaign (MHAC) and Yorkshire Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) to draw attention to what they claim is a lack of accountability surrounding activities at the base near Harrogate, a UK military site which is operated by the United States.

Protesters meet outside the site every Tuesday, but plan a more concentrated effort each year for American Independence Day on July 4.

A spokesperson for the organisers said: “Nominally an RAF Base, this United States surveillance facility is closed even to UK Members of Parliament and maintains secrecy about its actions – for example the directing of drone attacks and economic spying.”

Campaigners opposed to the activities of the United States-run intelligence base at RAF Menwith Hill, near Harrogate, North Yorkshire. Credit: Asadour Guzelian.
Campaigners opposed to the activities of the United States-run intelligence base at RAF Menwith Hill, near Harrogate, North Yorkshire. Credit: Asadour Guzelian.

The event included a talk by CND about the role of the base and the concerns of people about its military operations, and some then visiting the main gate of Menwith Hill, where there was a reading of a “Declaration of Independence from America”, which was originally written by members of Otley Peace Action Group in the 1980s.

See: Original Article