Downing Street protesters dragged away

Anti-nuclear campaigners who chained themselves to the gates of Downing Street have been dragged away by police.
More then 50 protesters from the campaign group Trident Ploughshares had gathered in Whitehall outside the street leading to Prime Minister's official London residence in a protest at Britain's nuclear weapons stockpile.

Eleven objectors chained themselves to the gates of Downing Street, but were cut away by police and carried into waiting vans. Another protester climbed to the top of the railings and was led down by a fire crew.

The group's spokesman, David Mackenzie, said: "We are an anti-nuclear weapon campaign group and we are down in London this weekend to take direct action against Trident-related sites in the capital."

Mr Mackenzie added: "While the British Government is making loud noises about terrorism and the sanctity of human life, they are persisting in actively deploying a weapon which is one of terror."

He said the group had delivered a letter to Tony Blair calling for the Government to adhere to "civil values" and get rid of weapons of mass destruction.

He added: "Trident is the nuclear weapon system of the UK, which is based on four submarines on the Clyde, north of Glasgow. Each warhead has seven times the destructive power of the bomb that fell on Hiroshima."

Their campaign kept "a very significant presence in Scotland" but they wanted to extend awareness of it "to London and the heart of government".

The protesters, from Scotland, England, Wales, Belgium, Finland and Germany later left the entrance to Downing Street peacefully.

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© Associated Newspapers Ltd., 17 November 2001

For more on Trident Ploughshares visit www.gn.apc.org/tp2000/