Press Releases & Updates 2000

The fine arose from a demonstration at the Faslane naval base on the river Clyde, north of Glasgow, where Britain’s Trident nuclear armed submarines are based. Joan had taken part in a blockade at the South Gate of the base, by sitting down in the road, in May 1999. The demonstration was held during a weekend camp of the "Trident Ploughshares" campaign, which is made up of people pledged to take non-violent, direct action to help disarm Trident or prevent its active deployment, and to be open and accountable for their actions.

Supporters of Joan Meredith, who is aged 70 and has 6 grandchildren, heard the court explain that they would not be sending her to prison immediately, as she has a hospital appointment on Monday morning. The clerk of the court added that she was being given extra time to allow her to re-consider paying the fine. She now has until 28th June to pay, or face being sent to prison for a week.

Andrew Gray, a spokesperson for the local Trident Ploughshares group, said, "Joan was told that she might want to ’re-consider’ whether to pay her fine. But from the letters she has written to the court, they should know that she has thought very carefully about this. She has done what she can to explain the most basic principles of humanity to the courts and the Ministry of Defence. Those principles say that you cannot use weapons that target civilians, and that even self-defence does not justify causing severe or long-lasting destruction to the environment: they have been part of International Law since the end of the 19th century, and are now enshrined in the Geneva Conventions. It’s now time for the government to ’re-consider’ its deployment of Trident."

Joan said after the case, "I was fined 100 pounds for sitting in the road, while the government spends 1,500 million pounds maintaining these weapons and threatening the whole planet with destruction. I believe I have a duty to hold the government to account over Trident. I’ve never been in prison, but am prepared to follow this through."

The next Trident Ploughshares camp in Scotland will be from 1st August, when a group of walkers will arrive from Aldermaston in Berkshire to join hundreds of others for a blockade of the Faslane base. Local campaigners will also be at the CND demonstration to be held at Fylingdales near Whitby in Yorkshire, on 8th July.

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