Lookback: Hundreds protest nuclear testing at Nevada Test Site — PHOTOS

Las Vegas Review-Journal

2 years ago

About 270 people protesting a nuclear test planned for February 5th at the main entrance to the Nevada Test Site on Jan. 27, 1987. The American Peace Test group sponsored the protest. In all, 72 people were arrested on charges of public nuisance and trespassing but most were arrested for public nuisance when they tried to block the test site entrance by standing or kneeling in the way of oncoming cars. The protestors carried an extra sense of urgency because the Soviet Union warned that it will lift its unilateral moratorium on nuclear testing after the first United States underground nuclear test of 1987. Location is the entrance to the Nevada Test Site in Mercury, Nevada. (Rene Germanier/Las Vegas Review-Journal)

About 270 people protesting a nuclear test planned for February 5th at the main entrance to the Nevada Test Site on Jan. 27, 1987. The American Peace Test group sponsored the protest. In all, 72 people were arrested on charges of public nuisance and trespassing but most were arrested for public nuisance when they tried to block the test site entrance by standing or kneeling in the way of oncoming cars. The protestors carried an extra sense of urgency because the Soviet Union warned that it will lift its unilateral moratorium on nuclear testing after the first United States underground nuclear test of 1987. This image is of protestors along the side of the road with some of them kneeling in front of an oncoming bus of test site workers. There are also police officers from Nye County and the Nevada Highway Patrol on site as well as Wackenhut security guards from the test site. Location is the entrance to the Nevada Test Site in Mercury, Nevada. (Rene Germanier/Las Vegas Review-Journal)

About 270 people protesting a nuclear test planned for February 5th at the main entrance to the Nevada Test Site on Jan. 27, 1987. The American Peace Test group sponsored the protest. In all, 72 people were arrested on charges of public nuisance and trespassing but most were arrested for public nuisance when they tried to block the test site entrance by standing or kneeling in the way of oncoming cars. The protestors carried an extra sense of urgency because the Soviet Union warned that it will lift its unilateral moratorium on nuclear testing after the first United States underground nuclear test of 1987. This image is of protestors standing next to a fence with Wackenhut security guards from the test site on motorcycles on the other side of the fence. Location is the entrance to the Nevada Test Site in Mercury, Nevada. (Rene Germanier/Las Vegas Review-Journal)

About 270 people protesting a nuclear test planned for February 5th at the main entrance to the Nevada Test Site on Jan. 27, 1987. The American Peace Test group sponsored the protest. In all, 72 people were arrested on charges of public nuisance and trespassing but most were arrested for public nuisance when they tried to block the test site entrance by standing or kneeling in the way of oncoming cars. The protestors carried an extra sense of urgency because the Soviet Union warned that it will lift its unilateral moratorium on nuclear testing after the first United States underground nuclear test of 1987. This image is of protestors along the side of the road with some of them kneeling in front of an oncoming bus of test site workers. There are also police officers from Nye County and the Nevada Highway Patrol on site as well as Wackenhut security guards from the test site. Location is the entrance to the Nevada Test Site in Mercury, Nevada. (Rene Germanier/Las Vegas Review-Journal)

More than 1,500 protestors demonstrating against nuclear testing including members of the American Peace Test on Feb. 5, 1987. Officers from the Nye County Sheriff’s Department are on the scene. The demonstration brought a congressional delegation, celebrities Martin Sheen, Kris Kristofferson and Robert Blake, astronomer Carl Sagan, former State Department analyst Daniel Ellsberg, scientist Lester Grinspoon and the international media. Location is the Nevada Test Site in Mercury, Nevada. (Jim Laurie/Las Vegas Review-Journal)

More than 1,500 protestors demonstrating against nuclear testing including members of the American Peace Test on Feb. 5, 1987. The demonstration brought a congressional delegation, celebrities Martin Sheen, Kris Kristofferson and Robert Blake, astronomer Carl Sagan, former State Department analyst Daniel Ellsberg, scientist Lester Grinspoon and the international media. Location is the Nevada Test Site in Mercury, Nevada. (Jim Laurie/Las Vegas Review-Journal)

More than 1,500 protestors demonstrating against nuclear testing including members of the American Peace Test on Feb. 5, 1987. The demonstration brought a congressional delegation, celebrities Martin Sheen, Kris Kristofferson and Robert Blake, astronomer Carl Sagan, former State Department analyst Daniel Ellsberg, scientist Lester Grinspoon and the international media. This image includes people with cameras and video cameras. Location is the Nevada Test Site in Mercury, Nevada. (Jim Laurie/Las Vegas Review-Journal)

More than 1,500 protestors demonstrating against nuclear testing including members of the American Peace Test on Feb. 5, 1987. The demonstration brought a congressional delegation, celebrities Martin Sheen, Kris Kristofferson and Robert Blake, astronomer Carl Sagan, former State Department analyst Daniel Ellsberg, scientist Lester Grinspoon and the international media. This image is of protestors that were arrested sitting in a bus with their hands zip tied together at the Nevada Test Site in Mercury, Nevada. (Jim Laurie/Las Vegas Review-Journal)

More than 1,500 protestors demonstrating against nuclear testing including members of the American Peace Test on Feb. 5, 1987. The demonstration brought a congressional delegation, celebrities Martin Sheen, Kris Kristofferson and Robert Blake, astronomer Carl Sagan, former State Department analyst Daniel Ellsberg, scientist Lester Grinspoon and the international media. This image is of protestors that were arrested sitting in a bus with their hands zip tied together. Location is the Nevada Test Site in Mercury, Nevada. (Russell Yip/Las Vegas Review-Journal)

Actor and singer Kris Kristofferson (left, grey beard) and actor Martin Sheen (left, dark blue jacket) and unknown others at the Nevada Test Site in Mercury, Nevada, on Feb. 5, 1987. (Jim Laurie/Las Vegas Review-Journal)

It’s not every day that nearly 2,000 people gather in the Nevada desert to protest nuclear testing.

But in 1987 in Mercury, Nevada, it happened.

Protesting at the the Nevada Test Site (now called the Nevada National Security Site) began on Jan. 27 — days before nuclear testing at the site was scheduled to resume after the Soviet Union’s 18-month moratorium on nuclear testing. Over 200 protesters were arrested, primarily for blocking the entrance to prevent cars from reaching the site, according to the New York Times.

The Soviet Union said it would resume nuclear testing if the United States did.

On Feb. 5, a second, larger protest was held at the site on the day the site planned to detonate its first test. However, the Department of Energy conducted the test two days earlier to avoid interference from demonstrators. The protest became the largest protest ever held at the test site, according to the Mohave Daily Miner (now the Kingman Daily Miner).

Several groups organized the protest, including Greenpeace, the American Peace Test, the Peace Committee of the American Public Health Association and Physicians for Social Responsibility.

Actors Kris Kristofferson, Martin Sheen and Robert Blake, as well as scientist Carl Sagan, attended the protest and were arrested. In total, 438 people were arrested: 433 for trespassing and five for resisting arrest, according to a New York Times report.

Between 1986 and 1994, over 37,488 participants attended anti-nuclear testing protests at the Nevada National Security Site, with 15,740 arrests made.