Press Releases & Updates 2003

At 7.15 this morning three activists, Sue from Faslane Peace Camp, Roz from Edinburgh and Marilyn from Glasgow, locked themselves to each other using steel tubes and lay down in the gateway of the Loch Long base, preventing any traffic getting in or out. The action was timed to coincide with the arrival of hundreds of workers for the morning shift. Currently, traffic is being diverted to a subsidiary gate. The blockaders are still in position.

This the first action in Trident Ploughshares’ Nonstop Nukestop campaign in which the Trident bases on the Clyde, Faslane and Coulport, will be disrupted by direct action all year round.

A spokesperson explained: “The recent announcement that it has cost the MOD around £500k to defend these bases from peaceful protest suggests that they are feeling the pressure. The obvious response is to increase it. The all too real weapons of mass destruction which our government deploys round the clock are there. We cannot ignore them and share in the pretence that this is a normal, lawful enterprise.”

More surprise actions of this kind are planned.

Coulport Blockaders Released

The anti-Trident activists who blockaded the main entrance to the Royal Naval Armaments Depot at Coulport in Scotland for three hours today have now been released from custody.

At 7.15 this morning Sue Brackenbury, from Ayrshire, Roz Bullen from Edinburgh and Marilyn Croser from Glasgow, locked themselves to each other using steel tubes and lay down in the gateway of the Loch Long base, preventing any traffic getting in or out. The action was timed to coincide with the arrival of hundreds of workers for the morning shift and traffic was diverted to a subsidiary gate. The blockade was finally cleared at 10 a.m. The activists were charged with breaching the peace and were released at around 2 p.m.

This the first action in Trident Ploughshares’ Nonstop Nukestop campaign in which the Trident bases on the Clyde, Faslane and Coulport, will be disrupted by direct action all year round. Marilyn Croser said: “We were here today to peacefully protest against weapons of mass destruction. If the UN wants to find WMD it should be looking here at Coulport and Faslane, not in Iraq.”

Meanwhile 73 year-old Barbara Sunderland from Henlow in Bedfordshire appeared this morning at Bedford Magistrates Court, having refused on principle to pay a fine of £190 imposed on her for a 2 minute sit-down at Faslane naval base in August last year. Barbara was prepared for a prison sentence, but the court opted for the more reasonable option of locking her up for the day.

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