Rochdale and Littleborough Peace
Group joined 8 Norwegian mayors and Kjell Magne Bondevik,
the former Norwegian Prime Minister, as they started the Around the World in 90
Days Bike for Peace from Manchester on Saturday (15 March 2014).
From Manchester, the Norwegian Group plan to cycle back to Oslo
via London,
Paris, Nice, Rome, Tehran, New Dehli, Beijing, Hiroshima, Tokyo, Kansas, Indianapolis,
Washington DC and New York. They will be hosting a reception with the mayor of Hiroshima
to commemorate the tens of thousands of victims of the nuclear bombs dropped on
Japan in August 1945. They are travelling with a letter of support from the current
Norwegian Prime Minister, Erna Solberg.
Philip Gilligan joined the 8 mayors with his own bike
at the Lord Mayor’s reception in Manchester town hall, cycling with them to
Platt Fields Park where they all rode the Sri Chinmoy Peace
Mile.
Philip said “It was inspiring to meet a group so committed to spreading
the message of peace across around the world. Their slogans and objectives are
ones which I am sure many people in Rochdale would be eager to support. They
include the immediate abolition of nuclear weapons and support for the casualties
of the nuclear attack on Hiroshima and of nuclear testing and disasters in
Semipalatinsk in Kazakhstan, in Nevada and at Chernobyl in Belorus. The
cyclists from Bike For Peace and Mayors for Peace are also promoting the
integration of disabled persons, gender equality and cycling as a way to help the
environment and to reduce global warming. We wish them well in their campaign”
See http://bikeforpeace.info/2014/
See http://www.demotix.com/news/
See http://www.manchester.gov.uk/
