340 people were arrested this morning at a blockade outside Faslane Nuclear Base, 30 miles north of Glasgow, mostly for Breach of the Peace and Resisting Arrest offences. They included Tommy Sheridan MSP, George Galloway MP and an estimated 30 Ministers and priests. The action began at around 5.30 this morning, with many people, including Sheridan and Galloway, being arrested within the first hour, in a series of large-scale police swoops on the crowd.

Many people simply sat in open defiance of the police -- who vastly out-numbered the protestors in terms of quantity, if not in quality -- either in front of the gate or on sections of the road around the entrance. There was also a significant group of people employing imaginative and beautiful tools of resistance, such as the twelve or so people who locked-on together through an immense model nuke. Even more awesome was the sight of one activist D-locked onto a wheelchair-bound companion (the chair was subsequently mutilated by the cops in an attempt to separate the two).

Beautiful crusties and RTS babes were visible, as were a few tute-bianche and black-bloc types, but they were easily out-numbered by yer regular grannies and grampas. Many of these old-school pacifists committed mass-resistance enmasse, with the cops rudely interrupting what looked more like a pleasant picnic in the middle of a road, than treasonable rebellion, at one point. It was a moving sight to see ageing blockaders, some with walking sticks in hand, politely inform police officers that they were ashamed and disgusted by their physical support of nuclear tyranny. Not only that, but seeing the Glasgow Anarchist flag flying alongside the local Quaker’s colors and CND banners was an excellent representation of what can be achieved when people unite against common enemies.

The blockade began to diminish by about mid-day, as most of those who were willing to be arrested had already suffered this fate. However, the brilliant organic noise of the salsa band kept the rhythm and the crowd going for well over an hour after this, until one final police-attack cleared the last remaining protestors from infront of the gate. This was accompanied by chants of ‘shame on you ya dirty blues’ from the remaining crowd, who by this time were basking in the sunny glory of the massive resistance they had staged to Trident.

Today, 1100 people stood up and said No to Trident. In our diversity, our message was clear: nuclear weapons have to go. They are the arrogant, disgusting representation of a culture of waste and destruction that has no respect for life or the environment, and no place in our society. Murder is wrong, even mass-murder.