Monday the 11th of December saw one of the most successful blockades of the Faslane nuclear submarine base since the start of the Faslane 365 campaign. The blockade was a joint effort between a group of Trident Ploughshares and the crew from Faslane Peace camp.
Monday the 11th of December saw one of the most successful blockades of the Faslane nuclear submarine base since the start of the Faslane 365 campaign. The blockade was a joint effort between a group of Trident Ploughshares and the crew from Faslane Peace camp. One of the roads to the base was completely blockaded for 2 hours and 10 minutes. In a day that saw 20 people being arrested and the running total rising above 365 people, 3 of the blockaders have actually been summoned to court on charges of breach of the peace.
At approximately 6:30 am a group of people from the peace camp assembled by the road leading to the base just by the south gate. After waiting for one of the patrolling police vans to drive past, they pulled part of the fence of the peace camp out into the middle of the road creating a temporary boundary between themselves and the police who were not much more than 100 metres away. Behind this fence they had hidden 2 large oil barrel lock-ons which were rolled out onto the road, 3 people locked onto them in a line then 3 others joined them with 2 tough steel lock-on tubes, and another “baby” oil-drum lock on creating a daisy chain of six people with 5 pretty hardcore lock-ons.
It took the police about 20 seconds to arrive on the scene by which point they had successfully blockaded the main road between Helensburgh and the base. The police called for back up and for the cutting teams and within minutes there were between 30 and 40 police on the scene. They immediately got to work cutting into the lock-ons and were as usual very concerned not to let anybody see what sort of cutting equipment they were using to the extent that they erected large visual barriers to conceal their work. Peace campers did however manage to get footage of their equipment from our birds eye observers in the trees. They had 3 separate cutting units at work on us yet it still took them 130 minutes to clear the road. 7 people were arrested at this incident 6 for blockading and one for possessing a rope and harness.
As this blockade was happening a second group blockaded the entrance to the base at the north gate. The group of Trident Ploughshares blockaded the round-about by chaining their bicycles together and locking themselves to them with D-locks around their necks. Others were arrested for simply cycling around the roundabout slowly. This blockade was successful in shutting down the road for half an hour. Both blockades together ensured that the work of the base was severely disrupted for the whole morning.
Of the 20 people arrested all have been released but 3 of the releases were under condition that they will appear in court on the 20th of December. These are the first of the 360 odd people that have been arrested to be formally charged with breach of the peace and gives an opportunity for the first time since the launch of Faslane 365 to actually bring the legality of the Trident system into question in court. Particularly important since the announcement by Blair that Trident is to be replaced despite being illegal under international law.
We are now witnessing an escalation of the campaign against the spectre of nuclear war. Expect to see much more civil society resistance throughout next year as the Faslane 365 campaign comes to a climax.
www.faslane365.org
www.tridentploughshares.org
www.cnduk.org
www.peacenews.info/
www.faslane.co.nr/
At approximately 6:30 am a group of people from the peace camp assembled by the road leading to the base just by the south gate. After waiting for one of the patrolling police vans to drive past, they pulled part of the fence of the peace camp out into the middle of the road creating a temporary boundary between themselves and the police who were not much more than 100 metres away. Behind this fence they had hidden 2 large oil barrel lock-ons which were rolled out onto the road, 3 people locked onto them in a line then 3 others joined them with 2 tough steel lock-on tubes, and another “baby” oil-drum lock on creating a daisy chain of six people with 5 pretty hardcore lock-ons.
It took the police about 20 seconds to arrive on the scene by which point they had successfully blockaded the main road between Helensburgh and the base. The police called for back up and for the cutting teams and within minutes there were between 30 and 40 police on the scene. They immediately got to work cutting into the lock-ons and were as usual very concerned not to let anybody see what sort of cutting equipment they were using to the extent that they erected large visual barriers to conceal their work. Peace campers did however manage to get footage of their equipment from our birds eye observers in the trees. They had 3 separate cutting units at work on us yet it still took them 130 minutes to clear the road. 7 people were arrested at this incident 6 for blockading and one for possessing a rope and harness.
As this blockade was happening a second group blockaded the entrance to the base at the north gate. The group of Trident Ploughshares blockaded the round-about by chaining their bicycles together and locking themselves to them with D-locks around their necks. Others were arrested for simply cycling around the roundabout slowly. This blockade was successful in shutting down the road for half an hour. Both blockades together ensured that the work of the base was severely disrupted for the whole morning.
Of the 20 people arrested all have been released but 3 of the releases were under condition that they will appear in court on the 20th of December. These are the first of the 360 odd people that have been arrested to be formally charged with breach of the peace and gives an opportunity for the first time since the launch of Faslane 365 to actually bring the legality of the Trident system into question in court. Particularly important since the announcement by Blair that Trident is to be replaced despite being illegal under international law.
We are now witnessing an escalation of the campaign against the spectre of nuclear war. Expect to see much more civil society resistance throughout next year as the Faslane 365 campaign comes to a climax.
www.faslane365.org
www.tridentploughshares.org
www.cnduk.org
www.peacenews.info/
www.faslane.co.nr/
