23 August 2004

MSP among arrests at Trident naval base protest

A Green Party MSP is among a number of people arrested by Strathclyde police today as peace protesters attempted to blockade the home of Britain's nuclear deterrent.

Police at Faslane naval base on the Clyde, the home port of the navy's Trident nuclear submarines, made a total of 34 arrests this morning when around 300 people mounted a "peaceful direct action" protest.

Politicians and peace activists from across Europe joined the attempt to block three of the main entrances to HM Naval Base Clyde.

However, Strathclyde police moved in to arrest campaigners who had formed a chain across the entrance roads to the base.

Joining the blockade of the submarine base were MSPs from the Scottish Nationalist Party and the Scottish Green Party, and the Scottish Socialist Party.

The MSPs declared that public pressure could end the "obscenity" of nuclear missiles on the Clyde.

In a statement today, a leadership contender for the SNP, Glasgow MSP Nicola Sturgeon said: “It's more important than ever to campaign against nuclear weapons. I cannot understand the hypocrisy of a Prime Minister who takes us into an illegal war in Iraq over weapons of mass destruction that don't exist, while he's happy to make room in Scotland for the most lethal bombs possible. It's high time that we told Westminster we don't want these weapons on our river."

Organisers of the 'Big Blockade' protest said that it was to highlight the "hypocrisy of the UK government over weapons of mass destruction" and that the aim was to cause as much disruption at the base as possible to keep the Trident issue on the agenda.

During a protest last year over 100 people were arrested.

(SP)