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Press Releases & Updates 2002
26th November 2002
Faslane Protesters Make Sure Trident is in the Dock
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People on trial today for a breach of the peace at blockades of Faslane succeeded in making a powerful case against Britain’s nuclear arsenal in spite of a statement from the magistrate that the court’s task was to deal with public order offences, not the illegality of Trident.
Lyn Bliss (48), a systems analyst from Luton, Katy Bothwell (20) and Shonagh Glen (21), both students at Edinburgh University, and Grace Nicol (34), a community outreach worker from Edinburgh were all found guilty and fined respectively, £100, £75, £75 and £150. Audrey Berger (20), a French national who is a student at Durham University, was found not guilty of a breach of the peace at the blockade of the base in February due to a discrepancy in the evidence about which gate she sat down at.
The confirmation of the gentle nature of the protest by the police witnesses was notable today, especially in the testimony of one officer in Katy’s trial who, without prompting from the Procurator Fiscal, said that the entire affair in February this year had been peaceful, that the atmosphere had not been hostile in any way and that the content of the placards and banners had not been directed against the police. When the Procurator Fiscal asked Shonagh about emergency vehicles being blocked by the sit-down she retorted that he knew very well that the Trident Ploughshares guidelines laid it down that the blockaders would move aside to let such vehicles past.
Grace reminded Justice of the Peace MacPhail that this was not a road protest but was about illegal weapons of mass destruction. All the accused had Trident at the heart of their case.
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