Press Releases & Updates 2005

Thousands of protesters are expected to converge on Faslane to physically blockade all of the gates to the high security base, home to Britain’s Trident nuclear weapon system. The blockade has been called in order to prevent work in the base, and simultaneously highlight the links between militarism and destructive globalisation, and the connections between poverty and war.

Organisers of the Faslane protest are working hard to ensure that local people who live near Helensburgh will not be affected by the non-violent blockade of the base. However, police have told the local authorities that for traffic management, and the health and safety of the protestors, road closures may be necessary.

The revelation of the proposed road closures, which if put in place will affect only vehicles rather than pedestrians, were made in a report for an Argyll and Bute Council Area Committee Meeting, scheduled to take place yesterday. Activists see the police warning as further proof that the G8 demonstration at Faslane will be the biggest and most successful blockade of the base to date.

A spokesperson for the Faslane G8 Team, Joss Garman, explained, “This protest is designed to be disruptive to the working of the base, not to local people. We are going to great lengths to minimise the impacts of the protests on local people, and we do not consider public road closures to be necessary, so were surprised to learn of the police request.”

He added, “This shows, however, the sheer quantity of people expected to take peaceful civil disobedience to shut Faslane and to send a message to the G8: “You can’t end poverty, unless you end war.”

Roads that police warn may be closed on the day of the action will be the A814 at the Maidstone Road, and at the Haul Road. The B833 at Peaton will also be shut off to vehicles. Roads will not be closed if numbers are lower than police anticipate. More information is available from the Head of Roads and Amenity Services at Argyll and Bute Council, Stewart Turner.

The demonstration which is organised by CND and Trident Ploughshares is supported by Stop the War, Britain’s biggest trade union - UNISON, Voices in the Wilderness, G8 Alternatives, The Scottish TUC and the Campaign Against Arms Trade.

The base at Faslane, which has been a focus for anti-nuclear activists, yesterday again proved vulnerable to security breaches and consequent disruption, when 14 protestors from Faslane Peace Camp breached the outer fences of the base, and one reached the berth of a Trident submarine ­leading to the closure of the base for several hours.

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